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Posted By: philmch gothic house in Palm Grove, Oxton - 8th Dec 2020 7:37pm
Does anyone know anything of the history of this house:
https://birkenhead2020.com/2020/01/13/palm-grove/

It's the one right at the top - no need to scroll down.

One of my friends reckons that it was a club or spa called Tony's for a while - possible up to the 1990s.

I'd be grateful for any information. Thanks.
Posted By: diggingdeeper Re: gothic house in Palm Grove, Oxton - 8th Dec 2020 8:40pm
This is addressed as 1 Beresford Road, it was Lord Birkenhead's house and up to a few years ago contained Tonys Restaurant when it was the Beresford Hotel. It is now apartments and very plain inside.

It was also known as the Constitutional Club
Posted By: diggingdeeper Re: gothic house in Palm Grove, Oxton - 8th Dec 2020 9:29pm
It was also known as Tonys Restaurant and Leisure club, tying in with the "spa" thoughts. The adjacent building at the same property was the Palm Suite.

Looking more at the Lord Birkenhead "house" claim, he might have just stayed there (perhaps on a residential basis) when it was the Constitutional Club, where he also made a famous speech.
Posted By: granny Re: gothic house in Palm Grove, Oxton - 8th Dec 2020 9:33pm


Was the the Natwest Bank in the 1970/80's ?
Posted By: granny Re: gothic house in Palm Grove, Oxton - 8th Dec 2020 10:28pm


Could the house have belonged to the Earl of Shrewsbury. A lot of the land belonged to his estate.
Earls were Lords of the Manor of Oxton from 1521 to 1990 .
Posted By: philmch Re: gothic house in Palm Grove, Oxton - 8th Dec 2020 10:42pm
Thanks for that so far. Very interesting. It was built as a hotel or club then ? I imagined it was built for a shipping magnate or someone of that nature. Finding out it was the Constitutional Club has led me to this:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/15295
Posted By: bert1 Re: gothic house in Palm Grove, Oxton - 9th Dec 2020 6:19am
Can't say if he was the first occupant or had it built, 1879 Electoral Roll, Frederick Jevons, Iron Merchant, also had a Warehouse, Counting House, Wharf, Queens Dock, Liverpool.
Posted By: bert1 Re: gothic house in Palm Grove, Oxton - 9th Dec 2020 7:13am
A small timeline,

1 Beresford Rd

1881, Frederick Jevons, Iron Merchant, 1891, 18 Palm Grove.

1891, Adelaide Bald, widow, Living on own means.

1901, Samuel Allison, Club Steward

Became the club between 1891 and 1901.
Posted By: bert1 Re: gothic house in Palm Grove, Oxton - 9th Dec 2020 7:34am
Narrow a bit more,

1894 directory, Mrs A Bald,

1900 directory, Constitutional Club.
Posted By: philmch Re: gothic house in Palm Grove, Oxton - 9th Dec 2020 12:17pm
Thank you so much everyone. I'm assuming now that the house was built for F.Jevons the iron merchant. How strange that he only stayed there for 10 years. Perhaps he went bankrupt and had to sell it. Perhaps he was related to...
https://astro.uni-bonn.de/~deboer/genea/as/as36.html

...which is not right if Jevons and Sons had failed by 1848 ! Also mentioned here:
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/3f3c34d2-b3af-4aa7-8aea-481d2123ef3d
Posted By: bert1 Re: gothic house in Palm Grove, Oxton - 9th Dec 2020 1:15pm
In 1911, Frederick Jevons still lived at 18 Palm Grove and his occupation was described as Metal Merchant.

Below is I assume is his probate, I haven't checked thoroughly.

[Linked Image]
Posted By: bert1 Re: gothic house in Palm Grove, Oxton - 9th Dec 2020 1:23pm
Meant to add,

18 Palm Grove had 14 rooms not including Bathrooms, so must have been/is a substantial property.
Posted By: philmch Re: gothic house in Palm Grove, Oxton - 10th Dec 2020 4:07pm
Originally Posted by bert1
In 1911, Frederick Jevons still lived at 18 Palm Grove and his occupation was described as Metal Merchant.

Below is I assume is his probate, I haven't checked thoroughly.

[Linked Image]


So he didn't die broke then. Using an inflation calculator, he left more than £2.75 million in today's money. Not exactly The Duke of Westminster but pretty respectable eh?
Posted By: bert1 Re: gothic house in Palm Grove, Oxton - 10th Dec 2020 5:47pm
Yes a respectable amount.

Landour, the name for 18 Palm Grove. The 1911 census, records the number of rooms a property had. The club, 1 Beresford Rd had 6 rooms, 3 Beresford Rd which was a private school had 20 rooms.

The 6 rooms were probably the stewards quarters and not the full club.
Posted By: mikeeb Re: gothic house in Palm Grove, Oxton - 19th Dec 2020 10:01am
My mate used to be the night security guard there when Tony's was closed and it was a lovely building inside but very spooky.

I always find very large empty buildings spooky. grin
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