How old is this building?

[stevelord65]

You did! Thanks Alan 

[stevelord65]

Have just had another look through Gore's directory and it looks like my Gr Gr Grandfather started using 32 London road around 1868. If the current building dates roughly to 1870-1900, that's on the edge, or just outside, that timeframe...
Also had a look at the history of the Liverpool Blind School, there's some info here:
https://historyof.place/location/liverpool-school-for-the-indigent-blind
It says that the school in London road was definitely demolished in 1851 and moved to Harman street. The town plan from 1848 (revised 1864) still shows the school in its old location: am wondering if when the map was revised only parts of it were revised?
Anyway, presumably when the school was demolished in 1851 another building (predecessor of the current one) was put up. Assuming the warehouse was brand new when my Gr Gr Grandfather moved in around 1868/69, that 1851 building would have been demolished after only about 17 years - unlikely perhaps?
So I'm thinking maybe the current building dates from the 1880s or thereabouts, meaning it was not my Gr Gr Grandfather's warehouse, but who knows...

[AlanBoyd]

Just thought it was worth posting this image of the London Road school taken from the item linked in reply#28

[ShaunJ]

The earliest newspaper mention I can find for 32 London Road is this ad for Vey Brothers in May 1858:

https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-share/44c52738-1003-476d-846f-2a27e05460c4

[AlanBoyd]

Taken at face value this correspondence in the Liverpool Mercury in March 1862 implies that at least some of the Blind School was not demolished but was repurposed. I’m posting the second letter first because it is easier to understand and will make sense of the second item which is an extract of a longer diatribe.

[AlanBoyd]

There is a continuous record of advertising from 32 London Road from the late 1850s up to the appearance of Mr Lloyd:

late 1850s to March 16th 1868, the Vey brothers, coffee and tea
July 10th 1868 the Liverpool China and India Tea Company appears
June 1869 the same company advertising the address to let
June 1869 Lloyd trimming start advertising for staff at that address

Thus, I can't see that there was ever any time when the building could have been (fully) demolished.

Perhaps AndyJ2022 has been correct all along!

[AlanBoyd]

Also, re: the item linked in reply#28

The suggestion is that the Blind school was vacated/demolished because of the expansion of Lime Street Station, but that makes no sense if you look at any map: the station has never encroached even past Lord Nelson Street.

Perhaps the feeling was that the environment was becoming unsuitable – noise, smoke–?

[Andy J2022]

Looking at the other, much clearer image from the article about the founding of the Blind School (shown below) I don't think the front on London Road was remodelled to become the post 1851 version. The image below shows that the central portion of the old building projected forward slightly from the two single storey wings. They probably took it down to the foundations of the original building so that the new building had a similar footprint, and may have reused some of the architectural stonework, but other than that I think the current building completely dates from the second half of the nineteenth century.

Based on the 1871 census when there are 14 people living at number 32, I think the premises must have extended out to the rear, along Hotham Street, some distance as shown on the town plan for there to have been space for warehouse storage there as well.  I doubt very much that the bricked up window had anything to do with the window tax. It could be a much more modern alteration, perhaps following the remodelling in the late 1940s/early 1950s when the cinema was built next door.

[stevelord65]

Agree with Alan's post above, that the Blind School can't have been demolished because of the expansion of Lime Street station: wikipedia says that the station was expanded in the 1840s and completed by 1849.
And perhaps the school building, or parts of it, did survive into the 1860s ...