The Turner Home (formerly the Turner Memorial Home, then the Turner Nursing Home) is in Dingle Lane,

Toxteth Toxteth is an inner-city area of Liverpool in the historic county of Lancashire and the ceremonial county of Merseyside. Toxteth is located to the south of Liverpool city centre, bordered by Aigburth, Canning, Dingle, and Edge Hill. The area w ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

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, Wirral ...

, England. Founded for the care of sick and disadvantaged men, it continues to function as a registered residential and nursing home for men. The building 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 I ...

History

The building of the home was completed in 1884 and was designed by

Alfred Waterhouse Alfred Waterhouse (19 July 1830 – 22 August 1905) was an English architect, particularly associated with the Victorian Gothic Revival architecture, although he designed using other architectural styles as well. He is perhaps best known fo ...

. It was built for Mrs Anne Turner as a memorial to her recently deceased husband and son. Her husband was Charles Turner, a Liverpool merchant who originated from

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

. He had been chairman of Liverpool Dock Board, and a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

. Charles Turner died in 1875, followed by his son five years later. The first full title of the home was “The Turner Memorial Home of Rest for Chronic Sufferers”. By the 1980s the fabric of the building had deteriorated, and in 1984 a Centenary Appeal was launched to raise money for essential repairs and improvements. Following this, as nursing standards and regulations changed, more modern accommodation was provided. In 1993 the Eric Fischer Wing was built, containing 44 bedrooms with en-suite facilities. This was followed in 2000 by the Ian Tod Wing, which incorporated a rehabilitation unit, a lounge, and six more bedrooms. The home is dual-registered as a residential and a nursing facility. In addition to medical and nursing care, chiropody, dental care, an optician's service, and hairdressing are provided. Parts of the main building continue to be used for communal activities, including dining, and games such as pool and snooker. Religious services are held twice a week in the chapel. Holidays and outings are arranged for the residents. The work of the home is supported by a League of Friends.

Architecture

The home is constructed in red

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitr ...

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

with a tiled roof. Its architectural style is Gothic Revival. It has a very irregular plan, and is mainly in two storeys with attics. It is entered by a timber

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 aest ...

d porch, to the right of which is a bay containing a clock dated 1883. Further to the right is a five-

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a nar ...

chapel. This has a five-light east window containing

Perpendicular In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the ''perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It can ...

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 ...

, and three-light windows along the sides. To the left of the entrance porch, and set back from it, is a round

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 * ...

with a conical roof. The window in the main part of the building are framed in stone, with

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid sup ...

s and transoms. The doorways have pointed archways, and the chimneys are tall and clustered together. In the entrance hall is a life-size

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorpho ...

statue, commissioned by Anne Turner, of her late husband and son, seated and inspecting a piece of cloth. It was carved by

Hamo Thornycroft Sir William Hamo Thornycroft (9 March 185018 December 1925) was an English sculptor, responsible for some of London's best-known statues, including the statue of Oliver Cromwell outside the Palace of Westminster. He was a keen student of classi ...

in 1885. The chapel has an open timber roof, a gallery housing the organ, and an

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parl ...

with an

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

supported on octagonal columns. Behind the altar is a carved

alabaster Alabaster is a mineral or rock that is soft, often used for carving, and is processed for plaster powder. Archaeologists and the stone processing industry use the word differently from geologists. The former use it in a wider sense that includes ...

reredos A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular architecture, for ...

. The stained glass in the window above is by

Heaton, Butler and Bayne Heaton, Butler and Bayne were an English firm who produced stained-glass windows from 1862 to 1953. History Clement Heaton (1824–82) Fleming, John & Hugh Honour. (1977) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Decorative Arts. '' London: Allen Lane, p. 37 ...

. Flanking the windows are boards with the

Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments ( Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...

, the Creed and the

Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...

Lodge

At the entrance to the drive leading to the home is a lodge, also dating from 1884 and designed by Waterhouse. It is constructed in stone with a tiled roof, and has an L-shaped plan. The lodge is listed, separately from the home, at Grade II.

References

{{Reflist, 30em Grade II listed buildings in Liverpool Gothic Revival architecture in Merseyside

History

Architecture

Lodge

See also

References