Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past History Information Request An interesting house

I came across this house at the junction of Palm Grove and Beresford Road. It's been extended at some time, but rather well. The brick is an almost exact match and the fenestration is in keeping; could maybe have benefited from a more ornate barge board on the new gable, to match the existing. Anybody know the history?

That's the old Constitutional Club. There was a nice little restaurant in there called Tony's.

Would of been a proud Victorian home at one point in its life.

Lovely building.

I had a look at maps and directory's and came across the stewards name for the club in 1916, a MR S Faulkner, I thought it rung a bell from something else we have all looked into. An interesting connection.

http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/forums/crew-research/8348-william-stephen-faulkner.html

The 'Birkenhead Constitutional Club' was wound up at a meeting on the 16th April 1920.

It's address, 1, Beresford Road does not seem to appear on a Census until 1891 when the Balch family are living there with 5 Servants.

By 1901 it has became a Club and Samuel Allison is living there as the Steward. In 1911 it does not show up again.

By 2008 The developers have decided to call it 'Beresford Hall' In a article by the Liverpool Echo (not known for its historical accuracy) reported "As a member of the Laird family - one of the most famous names in shipbuilding in the 19th and 20th centuries - the owner of Beresford Hall would have been keen to see the comings and goings along the river, checking on tides and the progress of the company's latest vessels."
You would be hard pressed to see the river from any of the windows, not even from the servants quarters or in the laughably called (by the Echo) turret room.

Oxton

1911, Mr Joseph Livesley
RG14; Piece: 22041.

Thanks Bert

Did not show up as Beresford Road in the address search, only appears when you search: "Constitutional Club Beresford Road".

Mr Joseph Livesley again shows as Steward of the club.

1894 Kelly's Directory has a Mrs. Bold living there.
The Gore's 1900 directory has it as Birkenhead Constitutional Club, W.H.Wallace, Chairman; Frederick Clift, Steward.

We had our wedding reception there back in 2001.
Knew one of the Tony's, Tony Andretti, proper Italian, used to live where i grew up.
Was told that the story about all the shipping line owners meeting there with spotters in the loft to tell them when their ships were in port.

The house is marked on the 1875 large scale OS map, but the grounds seem to be incomplete, suggesting that the house was still under construction when the map was surveyed.

It appears from the 1881 Census that the house was then occupied by Frederick Jevons, a Liverpool-born iron merchant, his wife Sarah Acland Jevons (née Taylor), their five children, and five servants. Frederick and Sarah were married at Altrincham on 29th November 1865, and appear to have lived initially at 1 Cavendish Terrace, Princes Park, Liverpool, where Sarah gave birth to a son, Frederick Jr (b.1867), a daughter Mary Catherine (b.1870), and another daughter (b.1868) who didn't survive. They after wards moved to Christleton Lodge near Chester, where they had another three children, Edward Russell (b.1871), William (b.1873) and Harriet Anne (b.1876). If they moved to Birkenhead shortly after Harriet's birth it may be that they were the first occupants of the newly-built Beresford Road property. Frederick was widowed when his wife died in 1894, and the 1901 Census has him living with his daughters Mary and Harriet not too far away at 18 Palm Grove.