In transcribing the following passage from the Internet Archive online version I have expanded abbreviations and added paragraphing, links, and illustrations. — George P. Landow
The Royal institution and Colquitt Street. Source: Ramsay Muir, Bygone Liverpool.
The Royal institution, in Colquitt-street, was projected in 1814, to disseminate a taste for literary and scientific infonnation; was established with a fund of £20,200, raised in shares of £100 and £50; took the name of Royal institution in 1817; received a charter from the Crown in 1822; has a large and neat, but comparatively plain suite of buildings; has very successfully conducted the schools, which we have alreaily noticed as connected with it; has also maintained lectures, which were at first well attended, but have considerably declined; and has a very valuable and extensive museum, replete, in every department of natural history, and containing upwards of 2,500 specimens of birds alone. The academy of design, the literary and philosophical society, the natural history society, the philomathic and the polytechnic societies, the chemists' association, and some other similar societies, hold their meetings in its lecture-rooms; and literary and scientific soirees also have latterly during the winter months, been held.
A school of medicine is attached to the Royal institution; and the students of it are, under certain regulations, admitted to the medical and surgical practice of the Liverpool infirmary, hospitals, aud dispensaries; while its certificates qualify for examination at the authoritative centres of medicine in London.
The Gallery of art, in Slater-street, facing the Royal institution, was established with liberal aid from the Institution's committee; includes a fine saloon for casts, confciining collections from the Elgin, the Egina, and the Phrygalian marbles; and has a noble upper gallery, containing a fine marble statue of Roscoe by Chantrey, the specimens of early art collected by Herm, and a great many pictures by the most eminent masters. An excellent gymnasium adjoins the gallery of art
The Liverpool Institute. Source: Ramsay Muir, Bygone Liverpool.
The South District school of art, near the Ladies' college, is connected with the Liverpool Institute; is a government school of design and practical art, both for the elements and the higher branches; and has both day and evening classes, and separate classes for ladies. The Institution exhibition-rooms, in Post-Office-place — a place so named from the post-office having been formerly situated in it — are occupied five months in every year, from August till December, by the exhibition of the works of living artists; and they have, of late years, had a display of British art inferior only to what may be seen in London.
Tooke's bazaar, close by these rooms, though not properly an institution, may be noticed as containing a most remarkable collection of wood carvings, fac-similes of ancient cups and vases, copies of the most famous Grecian sculptures, copies of ancient Roman bronzes, and numerous other kinds of artistic curiosities.
Mayer's Egyptian museum, in Colquitt-street, near the top of Bold-street, also contains a very rich collection of curiosities, chiefly antiquities of the Egyptian, the Assyrian, the Babylonian, the Grecian, the Roman, the Romano-British, the Anglo-Saxon, and the Medieval times, together with a library containing nearly 2,000 volumes of rare books, and nearly 900 volumes of manuscripts.
Mr. Brown, M.P., laying the first stone of the Liverpool Free Library and Museum. Illustrated London News (2 May 1857): 403. Click on image to enlarge it.
The Free library and museum in Shaw's-brow, near St. George's hall, was built in 1857, at a cost of £40,000, all defrayed by Sir William Brown, Bart..
Shaw’s Brow, South Side.
It stands on an artificial platform, constructed on a slope, to bring its basement on a level with that of St George's hall; measures 5222 feet in length, and 164 feet in depth; has a stone front of centre and slightly projecting wings, — the centre adorned with a hexastyle Corinthian portico, and the wings with Corinthian pilasters; has sides of Statlordshire bricks, with stone dressings; and contains, among other apartments, a vestibule, a central hall, a public reading-room, a students' reading-room, museum rooms, a class room, a lecture room, and a gallery of inventions. The vestibule measures 31 feet by 23; and contains a large grotesquely decorated Burmese bull, and a sitting statue of Egerton Smith. The central hall is 90 feet long, 53 feet wide, and 40 feet high; and is divided into nave and aisles by Ionic columns, which support the roof, and an arcade which carries the galleries.
The Public Library and Museum, Liverpool. The Gift of W. Brown, Esq. to His Fellow Townsmen. Illustrated London News 7 (27 October 1860): 407.
The free library is on the ground floor, to the right of the main entrance; has capacity for about 100,000 volumes; and is adorned, on the walls, by some fine paintings. The reading-room measures 100 feet in length, and 50 feet in width; is mainly lighted by two large sky-lights, and by windows in an attic raised on panelled segmental arches; but is divided, near the southend, by two Doric columns, and is lighted there by two windows. The students' reading-ioom measures 40 feet by 28; and a reference library, north of this, and parallel to the principal reading-room, measures 75 feet by 27. The museum rooms are in the left wing of the building, both on the ground floor and up-stairs; they comprise one of 70 feet byy 27, two each 10 feet by 27, and two each 40 feet by 25; and they contain a rich collection of subjects, arranged in departments. The gallery of inventions is decorated with ornate iron pillars and finely lighted from the roof; was not opened till 1863; and was visited, during the first nine month, by about 600,000 persons. Two models of Liverpool, as it stood in 1650 and in 1851, are in the model-room.
The Athenaeum, Church-street. Source: Ramsay Muir, Bygone Liverpool.
The Athenaeum, in Church-street, was created in 1799, at a cost of £4,000. had the merit of being the first institution of its kind in England; is a very neat stone structure; is disposed in news-room and library; and contains upwards of 20,000 volumes, including many rare and curious works.
The Lyceum News Room —The Liverpool Library, Bold Street. Source: Ramsay Muir, Bygone Liverpool.
The Lyceum, in Bold-street and Church-street, was built in 1802, at a cost of £11,000; presents to Bold-street a heavy-style Ionic portico, and to Church-street a tetrastyle Ionic portico; and includes a spacious news-room and a handsome library, — the latter lighted by an elegant dome, and containing about 50,000 volumes. There are also six other public libraries and news-rooms, — the Liverpool, in Bold-street; the Atlantic, in Brunswick-street; the North Free lending, in Great Nelson-street; the South Free lending, in Upper Parliament-street; the Temperance, in the Elms, Toxteth Park; and the Seamen's, in Mann Island, George’s-dock.
Unveiling the Wellington Monument at Liverpool. Source: Illustrated London News 42 (27 May 1863): 601.
Places of Amusement
The Theatre Royal. Source: Ramsay Muir, Bygone Liverpool.
The Theatre Royal, on the east side of Wlliamson-square, was built in 1772, at a cost of £6,000; was rebuilt in 1803; has a semi-circular front of stone, ornamented with the loyA arms, and with various emblematic figures; and is interiorly commodious and splendid.
The New Adelphi theatre, in Christian-street, was opened in 1803, as an arena for horsemanship, under the name of the Olympic circus; was rebuilt for theatrical purposes, and took the name first of Queens theatre, aftenvards of the Victoria theatre; and had, for a time, a plain brick front, but now ha.s a highly orna- mented one, with columns, balustrades, and statues; and has also a rich interior.
The Princess of Wales theatre, in Clayton-square, was formerly Clayton Hall; was opened as a theatre in 1861; and has an elegant interior, with capacity for 1,600 pereons.
The Alexandra theatre, between Lime-street and Pudsey-street, was built in 1866; measures 63 feet from the back of the boxes to the curtain; has spacious staircases all of stone, and corridors all tiled and fire-proof; and contains accommodation for 2,200 spectators.
The Colosseum, in Paradise-street, was originally a Unitarian chapel; was converted into a place of amusement in 1 850; in- cludes an old octagonal edifice, with octagonal lanteru in its centre, and a new addition toward Paradise-street, with handsomely decorated front; is used nightly for theatrical exhibitions, or other public amusements; and has capacity for 3,000 persons.
The Royal Amphitheatre, Liverpool. Source: Ramsay Muir, Bygone Liverpool.
The Royal amphitheatre, in Great Charlotte-street, is a very spacious edifice, with neat stuccoed front; is used variously for dramatic, melo-dramatic, pantomimic, and equestrian exhibitions; has a moveable stage, and an easily-surveyed circle for horsemanship; is used also for public meetings; and, when so used, can accommodate about 5,000 persons.
The Concert hall, in Lord Nelson-street, is a fine edifice; is used ordiuariiy for musical performances and for lectures; has, throughout the winter, Saturday evening concerts, at a very moderate charge; and is used, on stated Sunday evenings, as a place of worship.
Exterior of the new Philharmonic Concert Hall, at Liverpool. Source: Illustrated London News (1 September 1849): 153. Click on image to enlarge it.
The Philharmonic hall, at the corner of Hope-street and Myrtle-street, was built in 1849, at a cost of about £18,000, exclusive of the site; measures 175 feet in length, 109 feet in width, and 72 feet in height; is in the Romanesque Italian style, mth two principal stone fronts; has two colonnades on these fronts; is constructed interiorly somewhat after the manner of a theatre, with the orchestra in the position usually occupied by the stage; contains accommodation for 3,000 auditors, and 300 performers; includes a grand saloon, with refreshment-rooms; is used for the musical performances of the Philharmonic society, which was established in 1840; and is noted for having had receipts of upwards of £3,000, in two evenings of Aug. 1850, at singings of Jenny Lind.
Left: Soirée given to Mr. Bright in the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, by the Financial Reform Association. Right: The new Philharmonic Concert Hall.. (1 September 1849): 153
Queen's hall, in Bold-street, and St. James' hall, in Lime-street, also are used for public amusements; and the former is used likewise for the exhibition of paintings.
The Wellington rooms, in Mount Pleasant, were erected in 1815; have a stone front, with semicircular centre, adonrned with Corinthian columns; and contain a ball-room, a card-room, a supper-room, and several ante-rooms, all very elegant and ornate.
The Royal assembly-room, in Great George-street, is used for concerts, assemblies, and public meetings. — The Rotunda, adjoining the Lyceum, was formerly used for the exhibition of panoramic paintings; but is now a proprietorial billiard-room.
Crew's billiard-rooms, at the corner of Duke-street and Slater-street, are a commodious stone building, with a fine stone sculpture of the Union arms in front; and were formerly the Union news-room.
Parks and Places for Scenic Walks and Outdoor Recreation
Prince's-park, at the south end of Prince's-road, and contiguous to the south lineof the borough boundary, was formed, as a site of villas and a place of public recreation, by R. V. Yates, Esq.; is of much extent, and very tastefully laid out; has its villas, or rather mansions, so placed as to enhance the beauty of the recreation grounds, without impinging on their area; contains a charming lake, and charming inequalities of ground, artistically beautified; and commands delightful views, over the Jersey, to the hills of Cheshire and the mountains of Wales. A fancy-fair and flower-show was held in it in August 1819.
The Dingle, a short distance beyond Prince's-park, and immediately without the borough boundary, is a romantic dell, belonging to J. B. Yates, Esq., and extending to the Mersey; und is open to the public every Wednesday and Thursday.
Prince's parade, along the west side of Prince's dock, and separated from it by a lofty wall, is a pleasant marine promenade, 2,'25J feet long, and 11 feet wide; is protected, on the side next the river, by iron posts, hung with chains, about 3 feet high; has, at convenient distances, seats or benches, and, at each end, a covered shed; and commands an animating view of the Jersey and the Cheshire shore, down to the Bidston lighthouse. A similar promenade extends along the river-side, over the entire length of the Ubert dock warehouses.
St. James' walk, along the west boundary of St. James' cemetery, is a raised gravel terrace, 1,200 feet long; and, though rather a town thoroughfare than a recreation promenade, possesses interest for commanding good and extensive views of both the town and the river.
The Volunteer parade-ground, in Hall-lane, has capacity for the exercising of 3,000 men, in both drill and artillery practice; and fields opposite to it are used for cricket- matches.
The new gymnasium of the Athletic club is in Myrtle-street.
The race-course is at Aiutree, 6 miles NE of the town; has a grand stand, which cost £20,000, and sevend smaller erections; and the races on it are held in July.
Public Baths
The public baths, on George's-pier, were erected by the corporation, in 1829, at a cost of more than £35,000; form a low stone building, with plain but chaste exterior, and with an illuminated clock; contain warm, tepid, and cold baths, in two departments for the two sexes; contain also a cold plunge bath, and convenient dressing-rooms; and are supplied with water from the river at high tide, received into a tank with capacity for upwards of 800 tons, forced thence, by means of a steam-engine, into a capacious filter, and conveyed thence, in perfectly limpid condition, through pipes to the several baths.
Commodious baths and wash-houses, erected subsequently to the baths on George's-pier, are in Cornwallis-street, Paul-street, and Margaret-street; and Oriental baths are in Mulberry-street.
Bibliography
Wilson, John M. (John Marius). The imperial gazetteer of England and Wales: embracing recent changes in counties, dioceses, parishes, and boroughs: general statistics: postal arrangements: railway systems, &c.; and forming a complete description of the country. 8 vols. Edinburgh: A. Fullarton, 1870.Internet Archive online version of a copy in the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center. Web. 17 September 2022.
Last modified 24 September 2022