The saga of Josephine Butler House, Maghull Developments, and the credit crunch
Today I found myself yet again reporting the saga of one of Liverpool's historic buildings, Josephine Butler House.
Other previous stories can be found here, here and here.
Last year Maghull Developments caused controversy when they were acussed of "hacking the front" off the Victorian building, which sits at the junction of Hope Street and Myrtle Street, ahead of an application for it to be listed.
English Heritage refused to list the 1867 building, and eventually the company was given planning permission to knock it down and re-develop the site.
The site would have had a ã40m development on it that was a crucial part of a ã100m scheme for Hope Street as it would have a large basement car park to provide parking for the other developments (hotel, apartments, etc).
Now Maghull Developments, unable to proceed for the time being due to the credit crunch, wants to put an additional 14 car parking spaces on the site (it already has 53, and is very popular).
Despite all this the company's website continues to claim:
"The yellow-sandstone, 19th century property named after Victorian social reformer, Josephine Butler, will be refurbished as part of a major mixed-use development scheme."
Liverpool regeneration expert Hilary Burrage (who took this picture) summarises the case on her blog, which also includes a very good history of the site.
To say this issue has been controversial is putting it lightly. The main question that now remains is whether Liverpool City Council will grant permission for Maghull to expand the existing car park.
What will the council do?
Louise Ellman, Liverpool Riverside MP, wants the council to force Maghull to reinstate the façade of the building and refuse the company permission for the car park extension.
Any thoughts?
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David Bartlett
City editor of the Post and Echo covering politics, regeneration, and urban affairs.
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This saga illustrates a wider national disgrace, the failure of national government to have any legal protection in place for buildings under consideration for listing. That the developer had so little respect for heritage he hacked off the handsome stone frontage in case the DCMS listed the building is not an isolated case, but speaks volumes about developers and greed.
Under what legislation anyone can force the repair of the stone front would be an interesting one to know, possibly the MP can enlighten us all?
This building should have been in a conservation area and tha fact it was not given that minimal amount of protection also speaks volumes about the shame of Liverpool, a city ruined by rapacious developers and councillors with no idea at all what is appropriate for such a historic city. Edge Lane anyone? Why is that being demolished for some spurious 'road widening' which is not needed?
The hideous Museum made from egg cartons and that black granite odd shaped lump being built next to the Albert Dock, blocking views of nationally important buildings, are the latest in a line of crass developments. Shame on the council, shame on its planners, shame on English Heritage, which seems not only toothless in the region but positively inept.
Go see the SAVE Britain's Heritage exhibition at the milkandsugar gallery, before it's too late, and weep.