9 and 10 Brougham Terrace (Formerly listed as Brougham Terrace), Kensington and Fairfield, Liverpool

Summary

Houses forming part of a terrace, approximately 1830, later used as part of the Liverpool Muslim Institute and a Muslim boarding school for boys and a day school for girls. Both houses were converted for office use in the early C20.

Description

MATERIALS: mellow red brick with channelled and lined out stucco finish to the front elevation, yellow and pink-sandstone dressings, an eaves cornice, shallow parapet and a slate roof covering with wide brick stacks.

PLAN: the buildings formerly comprised part of a terrace of twelve houses, but are now attached to the other remaining survivor, number 8 Brougham Terrace (separately listed at Grade II*) at the south-west end, and an early C20 former cinema at the north-east end. Internally each house has an entrance hall along the western side of the ground floor and two large rooms on each floor (one each to the front and rear) separated by a staircase set at a right angle to the main entrance. The second floors have mainly been subdivided for conversion into student accommodation. At the time of writing (2018), the buildings are in the process of a programme of restoration and conversion to a heritage centre.

EXTERIOR:

Front elevation: both buildings are identically styled to the front (north-west) elevation with a stucco finish that incorporates banded rustication to the ground floor. Each house is two-bays wide and has a raised ground floor with an entrance doorway to the right accessed by a short flight of stone steps with ramped cast-iron railings that also enclose open wells in front of the basement windows. Each doorway has a doorcase incorporating a shallow hood supported by carved consoles and a four-panel door with a rectangular overlight above (number 9 retains its original door with fielded panels, whilst the door to number 10 has been removed for repair). To the left of each doorway is an eight-over-eight sash window (removed for repairs). Tall six-over-nine windows exist to the first floor (one of which to number 10 has been replaced, as evidenced by thicker glazing bars) with a plain sill band below, and three-over-six windows exist to the second floor. Affixed to the far left (north-east end) of the elevation just above the sill band of number 10 is a C19 painted cast-iron street sign with cutaway corners and relief lettering that reads 'BROUGHAM TERRACE'. The roof is hidden from view by an eaves cornice and parapet. Early C21 conservation skylights exist to both the front and rear roof pitches, but cannot be seen from ground level. Chimneystacks also exist to both front and rear roof pitches in line with the north-east party wall of each house.

Rear elevation: at the rear (south-east side) the buildings face onto a large rear yard area, which at the time of writing contains a large temporary single-storey classroom/community group block erected for the duration of the restoration work along the north-eastern side. The buildings are of mellow red brick on this elevation with sandstone wedge lintels and sills to the windows; one of the window openings to the first floor of number 9 has been bricked up, but the remainder remain intact, although some of the windows have been removed and are in the process of being repaired. Six-over-six and eight-over-eight windows exist to the first floor and three-over-six windows to the second floor. A single-bay outrigger exists to the rear of number 10 and rises from the basement to first-floor level and incorporates a rear doorway on the east side with steps leading down into the yard. The rear doorway on the ground floor of number 9 has steps down into the yard, but is now partly hidden by a temporary structure erected to facilitate the restoration works and yard access. The basements are visible and each have a single window and steps down to a doorway.

INTERIOR: internally the buildings have an entrance hall alongside the south-west wall of the ground floor with the rooms and stairs off to the north-east side; the hallways' north-east walls have been knocked through into their front and rear rooms. Doorways and arches have been inserted into the party walls on each floor level to interconnect the three buildings. Some painted cast-iron fireplaces survive and plaster arches and plain and decorative cornicing are present throughout (some of the cornicing is original and some is replaced in the same or similar style to the original), along with deep moulded skirtings. Some moulded door and window architraves and panelled reveals survive, along with some panelled window shutters. Some floorboard floors survive, but others have been replaced by tiled and laminate floor coverings. Some of the walls have their brickwork exposed and are without plaster as part of the building repair programme. Timber dog-leg stairs that rise between the basement and second floors are located to the centre of each house and are set at a right angle to the front doors with turned newel posts, stick balusters, handrails, and cut strings. The stairwells are top-lit and rise higher to include the attic level of each house; each attic has two rooms with internal windows onto the stairwell. The attics are accessed via separate timber winder stairs on the second floor. The second floor has been converted into student accommodation and is interconnected with number 8, with number 10 subdivided to form bedrooms and shower rooms, and a kitchen and lounge in number 9. The basements are also interconnected and are similarly laid out to the upper floors with a room each to the front and rear; the front room of number 10 is in the process of being converted into an ablution area. Some stone-flag floors survive and C19 kitchen ranges and coppers survive in varying state. Many of the buildings' roof timbers are understood to have been replaced due to water damage caused by lead theft from the roof when the buildings were vacant.

History

Numbers 9 & 10 (and also number 8, which is listed separately at Grade II*) Brougham Terrace originally formed part of a terrace of twelve houses believed to have been constructed in around 1830 and named after the Whig politician and lawyer Henry Brougham, who was created Baron of Brougham and Vaux in 1830. By the late C19 the four houses to the centre of the terrace had become the West Derby Union Offices, and by 1908 this had expanded to take in the remaining properties at the south-western end of the terrace and a new building was constructed in their place that survives today.

In 1889 William Henry Quilliam, a Liverpool solicitor and Muslim convert, bought number 8 for the Liverpool Muslim Institute (the Institute had been established by Quilliam at the Temperance Hall on Mount Vernon Street, Liverpool in 1887), constructing an extension at the rear that was the first fully-functioning mosque in England. He later bought the rest of the houses at the north-eastern end of the terrace and opened a boarding school for boys and a day school for girls, and an orphanage known as Medina House at number 12 Brougham Terrace. Quilliam also established the first Islamic publication house in the United Kingdom in the basement of number 8, publishing 'The Crescent' and a monthly journal known as 'The Islamic World' that was circulated worldwide, and also collections of his lectures, including 'The Faith of Islam' in 1889. The mosque was used to hold Islamic funerals and several Muslim burials at the necropolis on the opposite side of West Derby Road. At its peak, the Liverpool Muslim Institute had a membership of approximately 200 people.

William Henry Quilliam (1856-1932) was born in Liverpool into a wealthy Methodist family and brought up mainly on the Isle of Man. He became a solicitor in 1878 and specialised in criminal law. Illness led Quilliam to travel to France and Morocco in the early and mid-1880s for recuperation. It was in Morocco that Quilliam is said to have become interested in Islam, and he publicly announced his conversion from Christianity when he returned to Liverpool in 1887, changing his first name to Abdullah. Upon returning to Liverpool Quilliam established the Liverpool Muslim Institute at the Temperance Hall on Mount Vernon Street before acquiring number 8 Brougham Terrace two years later and constructing a purpose-built mosque extension. In 1893 Quilliam was given the title 'Alim' by the Sultan of Morocco and in July 1894 the Caliph of Islam and Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Abdul Hamid II bestowed Quilliam with the title of Sheikh-al-Islam for the British Isles. Quilliam left Liverpool in 1908 rather abruptly and it has been suggested that he was struck off as a solicitor for falsifying evidence in a divorce case. By the time he left it is estimated that up to 600 people had converted to Islam as a result of his work and preaching, including Professors Nasrullah Warren and Haschem Wilde, Resched P Stanley, former Mayor of Stalybridge, and Rev H H Johnson, a former Anglican clergyman.

After Quilliam left Liverpool in 1908 the houses of Brougham Terrace were sold to Liverpool Corporation by Quilliam's son and numbers 8-10 became a registry office. The two houses at the north-eastern end of the terrace (numbers 11 & 12) were demolished at some point between 1908 and 1927 and replaced by a cinema (now a music store), leaving numbers 8, 9 & 10 as the sole survivors of the original terrace. The registry office at 8-10 Brougham Terrace remained in use until 1999/2000, after which time the buildings remained disused and subject to vandalism.

The Abdullah Quilliam Society was formed in 1999 and acquired numbers 8-10 in 2005/2006 with the intention of re-opening the buildings as an active mosque and a community and heritage centre. The mosque at number 8, which reopened in 2014, has been restored and is an active place of worship. The second floor and attic levels of all three buildings have been converted for student accommodation. The remaining areas of the buildings, including the basement, ground and first floors of numbers 9 & 10, are undergoing restoration, with completion scheduled for 2018-2019.

Reasons for Listing

9 & 10 Brougham Terrace are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* they are good examples of early C19 terraced houses that retain much of their original architectural character and which reflect the wealth and importance of Liverpool as an international port city in the C18 and C19;

* the interiors retain numerous original features and their original internal arrangements remain fully legible.

Historic interest:

* in the late C19 and early C20 the buildings formed part of the Liverpool Muslim Institute, which was established by Abdullah Quilliam, arguably the most influential Muslim convert of the C19 and C20, and one of the most important figures in the history of Islam in Britain.

Group value:

* they have strong group value with the neighbouring 8 Brougham Terrace, which forms the original part of the Liverpool Muslim Institute at Brougham Terrace and is separately listed at Grade II* for its historic significance as England's first fully-functioning mosque.

External Links

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