Heritage Walk Location 5: Steepled Church

One of the many churches to be found along Princes Avenue, reflecting the many faiths of the multiple communities who have found homes in L8.

Princes Boulevard is at the centre of a vibrant multi-faith community where people of different national origins, religions and spiritual beliefs have lived together since the mid-Nineteenth Century. The many places of worship both on and surrounding the Boulevard reflect the historic and continued cultural diversity of this Victorian thoroughfare.

The Greek Orthodox Church of St Nicholas was built in 1870 in the neo-Byzantine architecture style. The building was designed by architects W&J Hay and the building overseen by Henry Sumners. The construction was funded by Greek merchants who had settled in Liverpool. It is an enlarged version of St Theodore’s church in Constantinople.

St Margaret of Antioch is an Anglican parish church. Built in 1869, it was designed in gothic style by GE Street and funded by a local stockbroker. In 1926 the Jesus Chapel, designed by Hubert B Adderley, was added to the north of the church. The Lady Chapel contains a dedication to HMS Lively, a Royal Navy destroyer built at Camel Lairds and adopted by the church in 1947. A scroll contains the names of those who lost their lives when the ship was sunk during the Second World War.

Princes Road Synagogue is home to the Liverpool Old Hebrew Congregation, the oldest Jewish congregation in the city, with a history intertwined with that of the wider Jewish community in Liverpool. It was designed by W&G Audsley, two brothers from Edinburgh who had no previous experience of building synagogues. It was consecrated on 2 September 1874. At that time the Jewish community in Liverpool was the second largest in the UK, after London. The synagogue is one of the finest examples of the Moorish Revival style architecture in British synagogues and received Grade I listing in 2014.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St Patrick Catholic Parish Churches are both located just a short walk away from the Boulevard. St Patrick’s neoclassical style architecture was designed by John Slater and completed in 1827. The free-standing statue of Saint Patrick on the outside of the building was moved from the St Patrick Insurance Company building in Dublin in 1827. Our Lady of Mount Carmel was built in 1876-78 by the noted Liverpool architect James O’Byrne.

The Welsh Presbyterian Church, designed by W&G Audsley, also the architects of Princes Road Synagogue, was completed in 1867. Then it was the highest building in Liverpool and because of its tall steeple it was nicknamed the ‘Welsh Cathedral’ or ‘Toxteth Cathedral’. It served the large Welsh community; an estimated 120,000 Welsh people migrated to Liverpool between 1851 and 1911. Many were employed as builders and are responsible for the construction of whole sections of Liverpool’s terraced housing including the famous ‘Welsh Streets’ off Princes Road. In 1982 it was sold to the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star, a Nigerian religious organisation. In the 1990s it was vacated and became derelict. A redevelopment of the building as an environmental centre for children, families and the local community is planned.

Al-Rahma Mosque is located close to the Boulevard on the corner of Hatherley and Mulgrave Street. It was built in 1974 by the Liverpool Muslim Society which was founded in 1953. Previously the Mosque operated from a private home on Cairns Street. The first floor, the school and the Imam’s accommodation were added in 1979. To accommodate a growing Muslim population, redevelopment was undertaken, funded entirely by donations from the Muslim community and completed in 2008. Replacing the basic building, the Al-Rama Mosque, designed by G Squared, has a traditional golden dome, crescent and minarets.

Mount Zion Wesleyan Methodist Church was situated on Princes Road between Eversley and Mulgrave Streets. It was erected in 1880. It later became a Chinese Methodist Church but was demolished in 1973 after a fire.

Princes Park Methodist Church opened in 1969. A prominent feature is the sculpture of the ‘Resurrection of Christ’ by renowned Liverpool artist Arthur Dooley, which created some controversy when it was unveiled. The 12ft black metal statue with facial features that seemed to combine many ethnicities, broke all conventional ideas of what Jesus would have looked like. Known locally as the ‘The Black Christ’, the statue has become a much-loved feature of the area.