A view of the famous Liver building from Ellison Tower, Everton, which has since been demolished. © Photography by Guy Woodland.
One of the most controversial housing schemes of the last century, tower blocks have been reviled and praised in equal measure.
Some have been demolished while others have fostered a powerful community of tenants who have fought to have them retained and refurbished.
Whatever your view, the latest exhibition at the Museum of Liverpool Life offers a chance to gain a new perspective on high-rise living. Living it Up is on show from February 12 until June 14 2005 and through images, reconstructions and testimonies helps create an idea of what it’s like to live "up in the air".
"Tower blocks in the United Kingdom evoke such strong feelings, often from people who haven’t been in one," explains Paul Kelly of the Liverpool Housing Action Trust. "This exhibition aims to explore the tower block history of Liverpool and the memories of the many, many ordinary and decent people who have called them home."
St Martins Cottages, Liverpool’s first social housing scheme with 146 flats and maisonettes was completed in 1869. Tenants paid around 5s-3d per week. © National Museums Liverpool (Museum of Liverpool Life).
Liverpool was the first city in Europe to provide council or social housing, with the first scheme, St Martin’s Cottages, completed in 1869. Almost a century later in 1956 the city’s first high-rise tower block, Coronation Court, was built.
At the time tower blocks were seen as a solution to the problem of providing a better standard of living for those living in these densely populated urban areas and the standard of accommodation offered in Coronation Court was new to many residents.
Coronation Court - in 1956 Coronation Court was the first tower block to be built in Liverpool, seven miles from the city centre. © Liverpool Housing Action Trust.
Offering indoor bathrooms and central heating, it was for some, a very exciting experience. One of the first residents, the late Olga Bayley, remembered:
"I will never forget listening to people talking about it. They were saying… how smart it was. Imagine living there they said. I thought to myself, I do, and I love it."
Over 60 tower blocks were built in the city between 1956 and 1974, providing more than 5,500 homes. During the period of economic decline in the following two decades many Liverpool tower blocks suffered as funding was cut and council housing became badly run down.
In the early 1990s six Housing Action Trusts were set up across the country to address this decline. Liverpool HAT was the largest and was given 12 years and £260m of government money to create sustainable housing and communities and bring in private finance.
The demolition of Storrington. © Liverpool Housing Action Trust.
Following a major consultation exercise with tenants in all blocks it was decided to refurbish 13 of them, with the other 54 to be demolished and new homes built on their footprints for the tenants.
These new developments include 22 ecological bungalows and houses at Jackson Pond Drive, Childwall and 15 new community centres offering a range of educational, leisure and social activities.
Many of the tenants are now in their 70s, 80s and 90s and the HAT’s community services team has enabled them to be actively involved in their neighbourhood. "It’s quite a community," says Vera Cook, a resident of Ash Grange. "Everyone knows each other now, it’s a totally different life altogether …and that’s thanks to the HAT."
The snow-covered view from Corinth Tower in Everton, which is due for demolition in March/April 2005. © Photography by Guy Woodland.
At the Museum of Liverpool Life, Living it Up tells the whole of this story from rise and decline to the present day. Visitors will be shown around by members of the High Rise Tenants Group (HRTG), which was formed in the 1960s to give tenants a voice against unfair treatment and rent increases.
Key features of the exhibition include reconstructions of a living room from a flat in Sheil Park tower block and an office where the HRTG representatives would have worked.
Members of the High Rise Tenants Group will be conducting tours of the exhibition on Wednesdays, Thursdays and alternate weekends throughout. © National Museums Liverpool (Museum of Liverpool Life).
As well as telling the story of HAT’s work with the residents of 5,337 properties in 67 tower blocks, the display is also about telling the story of those residents and the buildings they’ve lived in.
"As Liverpool aims to reverse its population decline the tower blocks may one day be needed again in this city," adds Paul Kelly. "For now let this exhibition lift you to the heart of community regeneration, somewhere you might not have been before, to enjoy the view."
