Liverpool Sailors’ Home, was open for business in Canning Place, Liverpool, England, from December 1850 to July 1969. The home was designed to provide safe, inexpensive lodging for sailors, and to offer educational and recreational opportunities, in contrast to the temptations on offer in the docklands area.
The home was not only a magnificent building it also played a pivotal role in establishing Liverpool as one of the world’s successful commercial seaports following the dismantling of the Slave trade.
The building was demolished in 1974, a few years after its closure in 1969. Decorative features were preserved. Mermaid Railings from the Home (Acquired by Clough Williams-Ellis C1950 when a floor was installed at first floor balcony level.) can be seen in Portmeirion in North Wales.
The wrought iron gates were sold in 1951 to Avery in Birmingham and were on view at their museum located in the historic Soho Foundry until 2011. During their working years the gates had been associated with two deaths, helping to create the story of subsequent hauntings around Canning Place. In 2011 the gates were returned to Liverpool and installed as “The Sailors’ Home Gateway” near their original location in Liverpool One, as a monument to the thousands of Merchant Seamen that had passed through them during the 150 years the Sailors’ Home operated.
The sandstone Liver Bird originally at the centre of the flamboyantly carved decoration above the doorway can be found in the Museum of Liverpool.