Historic Liverpool Dwellings - Springwood House

 

This was another of those impressive mansions built by the ever-expanding class of merchants and lawyers who, as Liverpool’s commercial and maritime power continued to flourish throughout the 19th Century, began to look for places outside of the city to build their 'statement' homes. One of the most popular places was to be found in Allerton, with one of the first to be built there Springwood House in 1839. Located on the corner of Woolton Road and Springwood, not far from Allerton Hall, this two-storey neo-classical mansion lodge might possibly have been designed by John Cunningham, the Scottish architect best known for designing Lime Street station and the original Philharmonic Hall. It was built by William Shand, a plantation owner with interests in the slave trade, and he named it after his estate in Antigua. Shand's slave-ownership in Antigua was through the family merchant firm. While under construction it was sold to the shipping magnate, Sir Thomas Brocklebank in 1844, whose grandfather was the founder of the famous Brocklebank shipping company, one of the oldest merchant shipping firms in the world prior to its collapse in the 1980s. 

The house stayed with the Brocklebank family until the 123 acre estate was passed onto the Liverpool Corporation. It was used by the military authorities during the first and second world wars, and had been used by the Springwood Tenants Association as a community centre in 1928. Even though the building is now used as a care home it still retains some beautiful architectural features, especially the elegant staircase and the skylight that is geometrically positioned above it to flood the hallway with natural light. The drawing room and library were said to have been copies of rooms in Windsor castle.

Lady Rushton visiting Springwood Park to open the local fete of the newly formed Springwood Tenants' Association

In the background of the photo above you can see Springwood House which at the time of the photo was under lease to the local tenants until the outbreak of the war in 1939. The estate had been sold to Liverpool Corporation in 1921 with the surrounding land used mostly for housing. In 1967 the building became a Leonard Cheshire Home for the Disabled and as of 2016 is the Springwood Mansion Nursing Home, a Grade II listed building with two wings, St.Michael's Manor and St.Michael's Mount.

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2022/11/historic-liverpool-dwellings-highfield.html