2009
SJ3384 : Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight
taken 15 years ago, near to Port Sunlight, Wirral, England
Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight
Port Sunlight is a model village and 'Conservation Area' on the Wirral Peninsula between Lower Bebington and New Ferry. Construction began in 1888; today the village comprises 900 Grade II listed buildings.
Named after the popular brand of "Sunlight Soap", Port Sunlight was built by William Hesketh Lever (1851-1925) - later Lord Leverhulme - for the employees of Lever Brothers soap factory (now part of Unilever). Lever personally helped to plan the village and employed nearly thirty different architects in its design. Between 1899 and 1914, 800 houses with a population of 3,500 were built, together with allotments and public buildings, including the Lady Lever Art Gallery, a cottage hospital, schools, a concert hall, open air swimming pool, church, and a temperance hotel. Lever also introduced schemes for welfare, education and the entertainment of his workers, and encouraged recreation and organisations which promoted art, literature, science or music.
The Lady Lever Art Gallery - the portico of which is shown here - is named after Lord Leverhulme's wife Elizabeth Hulme, who died in 1913. He started work on the Gallery in 1913, working closely with his architects William and Segar Owen of Warrington, to produce a Neoclassical design clad in Portland Stone. By keeping the building low and setting back the corners, the architects managed to design a very large gallery without overwhelming the surrounding cottages. There are few windows, the interior being mostly lit by roof lights that display the extensive collection (he explained, "I have to cater for all tastes ...") pleasingly in soft natural light. The gallery was formally opened on 16 December 1922 by Princess Beatrice, youngest daughter of Queen Victoria. In his speech Lever explained that the new building contained the cream of his collection, "... the finest works of artists that I have had the opportunity to acquire ..." The Gallery is well worth a visit.
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