Building of the Month November 2024: Ivy Cottage, Kelvin Grove, Liverpool

Ivy Cottage is a locally loved landmark building, located on Kelvin Grove of Liverpool's ‘Welsh Streets’. This historic part of Liverpool consists of a grid-plan of streets built in the 1870s as bye-law housing very close to Grade II* Princes Park. The Welsh Streets are an important part of the Beatles’ Liverpool heritage, with Ringo Starr’s birthplace at 9 Madryn Street only a five-minute walk from Ivy Cottage.

This charming Victorian building is a distinct feature of Kelvin Grove at two-storeys tall amongst the primarily three-storey terrace houses characteristic of this street. Ivy Cottage has previously been adapted for use as a garage, with the ghost of historic painted signage pointing to the garage’s entrance still visible. This industrial use is most evident on the building’s elevation fronting South Street, which clearly shows how the building has been extended and a wide entrance installed to accommodate this changing use.

Following SAVE’s major campaign in 2015 to revive the Welsh Streets and avert the demolition of Ringo Starr’s birthplace, the streets were transferred to Manchester-based house builders, Placefirst, who have since undertaken the restoration of the neighbourhood with their heritage-led regeneration scheme.

However, Ivy Cottage remains vacant and deteriorating having not yet joined the ranks of its surrounding neighbourhood as a restoration success. Planning permission was granted in 2021 to convert the building into three residences, but these works have not yet commenced. Next door, 42 Kelvin Grove is currently threatened with demolition which SAVE has objected to, expressing that it has great potential to be brought back into use. Kelvin Grove as a whole presents a refurbished and well-maintained appearance, and SAVE considers Ivy Cottage could form an attractive part of this street in harmony with Placefirst's award-winning approach to the wider Welsh Streets.