Bluecoat Chambers
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| Bluecoat Chambers | |
| Building information | |
|---|---|
| Location | Liverpool |
| Country |  England |
| Construction Start Date | 1716 |
| Style | Queen Anne style |
The Bluecoat Arts Centre in Liverpool, England, is the oldest building in the city centre. It was built c.1716 in the Queen Anne style to house a school for poor children. The school, now known as The Liverpool Blue Coat School, moved to new premises in 1906, but the building was preserved as an arts centre owing to its cultural significance, and has survived the growth of the city around it, tucked in just a few metres away from the shopping district.
The building consists of three wings built around a cobbled yard. The fourth edge of the yard is separated from School Lane by iron railings and gates. Several independent artists and craftsmen operate small shops within the building, there is a café run by the Arts Centre, and a permanent, small, discount book-shop. In addition, the building is also used to house temporary art exhibitions and sales of rare books, often in collaboration with other arts organisations or National Museums Liverpool.
The atmosphere of the Centre, artistic, but grand rather than Bohemian, attracts a wide range of visitors: loose gatherings of arts students, pensioners organising coffee mornings, middle-aged architects and designers stepping across from the business district for lunch, and of course tourists sampling the local culture.
[edit] External links
- Home page
- Picture of the building in which Bluecoat Arts Centre is located
- Article from Liverpool's 'Nerve' magazine
- History of Duke St area with description of Bluecoat chambers
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