The Church of Saint Andrew is a former Presbyterian church building in Rodney Street,

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...

, England. It was part of the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...

. The church 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, ...

as a designated Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

, and before redevelopment was on its

Heritage at Risk Register An annual ''Heritage at Risk Register'' is published by Historic England. The survey is used by national and local government, a wide range of individuals and heritage groups to establish the extent of risk and to help assess priorities for acti ...

History

The body of the church was designed by Daniel Stewart, the surveyor of the Scottish Presbyterian Church committee of management, and the façade by John Foster, the senior surveyor of the Corporation of Liverpool. The foundation stone was laid on 17 June 1823, and the church opened the following year on 3 December. The church closed in 1975, with the

congregation meeting in the Radcliffe Room at

Liverpool Cathedral Liverpool Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Liverpool, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Liverpool and is the mother church of the Anglican Diocese of Liverpool, diocese of Liverpool. The church may be formally re ...

. The congregation disbanded following a special service on 27 November 2016, where the Rt Rev Dr Russell Barr,

Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland The moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the minister or elder chosen to moderate (chair) the annual General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, which is held for a week in Edinburgh every year. After chairing the Ass ...

preached. The building was seriously damaged by fire in 1983. Since that time, one of the towers has had to be demolished because it was unsafe. The church and its surrounding graveyard were purchased privately in 1988, with plans to restore the building and open it as offices and medical consulting rooms. In 2008, after spending £100,000 on legal fees to acquire the site and a further £150,000 since on emergency repairs,

Liverpool City Council Liverpool City Council is the Local government in England, local authority for the City status in the United Kingdom, city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. Liverpool has had a local authority since 1207, which has been reformed on numerous ...

acquired the site. After facing an uncertain future, it was placed on the Buildings At Risk Register, with its condition stated to be "very poor". In December 2011 it was announced that the church would be restored and developed into accommodation for 100 students, with redevelopment work to include the rebuilding of one of the church's turrets and a remodelling of the exterior. As of 2015 the facade of the building has been completely restored and successfully preserved, with the former building now rebuilt to provide student accommodation known as "St Andrew's Place".

Architecture

The body of the church is constructed in rendered brick, and contains round-headed windows. The façade is in

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

style. It contains a recessed

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

with Ionic columns, and square towers at the corners surmounted by small domes. In the ''National Heritage List for England'' it is described as "a distinguished building in a desperate condition".

Mackenzie Monument

Adjacent to the church in the churchyard is a monument to William Mackenzie, a railway contractor who died in 1851. It is in the shape of a pyramid, is constructed in

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

, and was erected in 1868. Facing the street is a blind entrance flanked by uprights supporting a

lintel A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented/structural item. In the case ...

containing a bronze plaque. The structure is a Grade II listed building. There is a tradition, popularized by the famous Liverpool writer Tom Slemen that, as Mackenzie was a gambling man, he sold his soul to the Devil, and that his body was placed in a seating position above ground within the pyramid, in order that the Devil might not claim him. His ghost is said to haunt Rodney Street.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liverpool, Church of St Andrew

Church of St Andrew St. Andrew's Church, Church of St Andrew, or variants thereof, may refer to: Albania * St. Andrew's Church, Himarë Australia Australian Capital Territory * St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Canberra, founded by John Walker (Presbyterian minis ...

Grade II* listed churches in Merseyside Churches completed in 1824 Church of Scotland churches in England 19th-century Presbyterian churches Presbyterian churches in England Former churches in Merseyside Church ruins in England 19th-century Church of Scotland church buildings 19th-century church buildings in England

History

Architecture

Mackenzie Monument

See also

References