The Lyceum is a building on Bridge Street,
Port Sunlight
Port Sunlight is a model village and suburb in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside. It is located between Lower Bebington and New Ferry, on the Wirral Peninsula. Port Sunlight was built by Lever Brothers to accommodate workers in it ...
,
Merseyside
Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wi ...
, England. Originally built as a school, it is now used for a variety of purposes, including housing a social club. It is recorded in the
National Heritage List for England
The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...
as a designated Grade II
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
.
History
The Lyceum was built for
William Lever
William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme , (, ; 19 September 1851 – 7 May 1925) was an English industrialist, philanthropist, and politician. Having been educated at a small private school until the age of nine, then at church schools ...
in 1894–96,
and was designed by the
Chester firm of architects
Douglas and Fordham
John Douglas (11 April 183023 May 1911) was an English architect who designed over 500 buildings in Cheshire, North Wales, and northwest England, in particular in the estate of Eaton Hall. He was trained in Lancaster and practised throu ...
.
It was originally built as the school for the developing community of Port Sunlight and was used as a place of worship until the church was built. It later acquired the name of the Lyceum.
[ As of 2009 it is being used partly as a social centre and partly as architects' offices. There are plans to develop another part of it as a Victorian classroom to form part of Port Sunlight Museum.]
Architecture
The main front of the building faces southeast. It has five bays in an irregular plan, and is mainly in one storey.[ The walls are constructed in red ]Ruabon brick
Ruabon ( cy, Rhiwabon ) is a village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The name comes from ''Rhiw Fabon'', ''rhiw'' being the Welsh word for "slope" or "hillside" and ''Fabon'' being a mutation from St Mabon, the original church ...
with blue brick diapering
Diaper is any of a wide range of decorative patterns used in a variety of works of art, such as stained glass, heraldic shields, architecture, and silverwork. Its chief use is in the enlivening of plain surfaces.
Etymology
For the full etymolo ...
and stone dressings.[ The roofs are of slate with tiled ridges. From the left, the first bay projects forwards. It has a three-light window, an elliptical-arched doorway and a plain ]gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...
. The second bay is recessed and higher, with three two-light windows and a shaped gable. The third bay is recessed even further, is in two storeys and has a doorway and a shaped gable. The fourth bay is the most substantial, wider and higher than the others, and projecting forwards. It contains three pairs of two-light windows and has a shaped gable in which there is a circular window with star-shaped tracery
Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support the ...
. There are finials on all the gables. On the right of the main front is a turret
Turret may refer to:
* Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building
* Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon
* Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope
* Mi ...
which has a square base and is octagonal above with broaches at the transition. On the ground floor is an elliptical-headed doorway with a two-light window over it. Above this is a string course, then a clock and a window on alternative faces. Over these is another string course and a parapet
A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...
with ball finials. The turret is surmounted by a recessed slate spire with a weather vane
A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , m ...
.[
]
See also
* Listed buildings in Port Sunlight
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Port Sunlight, Lyceum
Grade II listed buildings in Merseyside
John Douglas buildings
School buildings completed in 1896