Historic Liverpool Dwellings - Greenbank House

The original house was built in the early eighteenth century on part of the Toxteth Park estate. In 1788, William Rathbone IV leased the family house and estate, which consisted of 24 acres of land, from the Earl of Sefton to serve as a country retreat for his young family. The Rathbone family purchased the freehold of Greenbank House in 1809, the year of William Rathbone IV's death. Following his death, the house was left to his widow Hannah Mary Rathbone for her lifetime. She made a number of substantial alterations to the building. The main facade house consisted of three bays, over two stories with a  large part rebuilt in the Strawberry Hill Gothic style and a cast-iron screen was added to form a verandah and balcony.

Hannah also made changes to the interior which remain extant and are a mixture of both Gothic Revival and Neoclassical styles. The principal rooms contain both Gothic Revival and Neoclassical fireplaces and decorative plasterwork with the entrance hall featuring a plaster vaulted ceiling, with wheel-shaped ceiling bosses. There is a plaster vaulted entrance passage with muchette wheel traceried boss, and gothic staircase with cast-iron balusters and a moulded handrail. In the principal rooms, besides gothic and classical chimney pieces there were gothic shutter boxes and decorative plaster cornices. The central, ground floor portico is flanked by two canted, crenelated bay windows whilst the south facade consists of four bays, covered by a two-storey, cast-iron veranda which was installed in the early 19th century, probably by the Coalbrookdale foundry, owned by Hannah Rathbone's father. An extension in red sandstone was added in 1868, with a conservatory being built in 1869. Hannah had retired to a purpose built cottage nearby following the marriage of William Rathbone V to Elizabeth Greg in 1812.
The American artist John James Audubon visited the Rathbone family at Greenbank House during his visit to Liverpool in the 1820s and the writer Nathaniel Hawthorne and his wife Sophia were also guests of the Rathbones during Hawthorne's time in Liverpool in the 1850s as the United States consul. 

Some of the land had passed from Rathbone family control in 1897, when Liverpool Corporation entered into an agreement with the Rathbone Family to purchase the piece of land, part of which is now Greenbank Park. On the death of Emily Rathbone in 1918, widow of William Rathbone V1, Greenbank was occupied by Hugh Reynolds Rathbone and Emily Evelyn Rathbone. Hugh had strong connections with the University of Liverpool and towards the ends of their lives Hugh and Emily donated parts of the Greenbank estate to the University as a site for student accommodation. On land donated in 1929, the University built Derby Hall, which opened in 1939. The house and remaining estate remained in Rathbone hands until the death of Hugh Reynolds Rathbone on the 19th of January 1940. Between 1939 and 1948 remaining parts of the estate were donated by Hugh and Emily's children. The house itself was requisitioned by the Admiralty in 1940, but in 1944 it too was donated to the University. It formed an annexe to Derby Hall until 1963-4, when it was converted for use as a student and staff social club. Greenbank House is described by Quentin Hughes in his book 'Liverpool: City of Architecture' as 'a graceful marriage of Georgian and Gothic styles', with the 'lace-like cast iron screen on the garden facade being its most charming feature'. It now stands within the University of Liverpool's Greenbank Halls of Residence site, between Greenbank Road and Greenbank Lane. The University of Liverpool is in the process of renovating the house, with the intention of reinstating its original features. On completion, the house will be used for university teaching facilities. 

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