Introduction
This was one of many places me and Jake wanted to do on our recent trip to Merseyside. It’s been posted numerous times in the past including by Jake a few months back, but I thought I’d post my stance on it aswell as I really liked the place. Reports on here date back to almost a decade ago and it is still good to see it is in reasonable condition especially considering its fairly central location.
Information & History
It’s been covered many times in the past so I won’t go into too much detail. The Synagogue is Grade II* listed and its primary use was for the local Jewish congregation in 1937 and was the largest building of worship for Liverpool’s Jewish community.
A large fire occurred at the site at the tail-end of the 50s which was started by a burglar. The fire resulted in part of the roof being damaged in addition to the Torah Ark and its Scrolls. The building was repaired two years later at a cost of £50k which equates to over £900k in today’s money. There was another fire, albeit less significant, in 1965.
The site closed in January 2008 due to a decreasing number of visitors. The site has laid derelict since then. Since the closure, Historic England upgraded the listed status from Grade II to Grade II* and is now on the Heritage at Risk register. A few years ago, approval was given for the building to be renovated into apartments but these plans never materialised and it still sits in a derelict state today.
The Explore
I was quite on edge at this one to start with, just due to the fact that I have had a few run-ins with undesirables in city centre locations and I’ve heard there are normally homeless staying here. Despite this, we didn’t run into any major issues. We first quickly scouted it out without the camera, and then decided to go back to the car and take the cameras in. We just did handhelds for this one and were in and out fairly quickly.
Initially, I thought we wouldn’t be able to get in as on Mar 2023 Streetview, there was a partially-bent gate but this has now been covered with a large fresh board. We did find quite an easy, obvious way in the end and it was effectively a walk-in. There is a fairly fresh-looking camera at the front of the building but I also saw it on some other reports so I’m not sure if it is active.
As we were taking photos, a group of youths came in and started making a load of noise, we then got our final shots and left. When we got in the car and drove off, a police car pulled in near the entrance so we definitely got out at the right time. The building looks like it’s gone slightly downhill a bit in the last year or so but it is still in fairly decent nick all things considered.
As we were rushing a little bit, I decided to only use the 15-85mm zoom lens for this explore, so my external pic is crap but I'm just adding it for completeness really:
Heading on inside, it really is a great place for photos and has some stunning architecture:
I love these arches on the ceiling:
A nice old clock:
Some of the other rooms at the front and the lovely curved staircase in the main foyer:
A plaque commemorating the laying of the foundation stone:
Throwing in a B&W pic to finish off as I liked this shot:
Thanks for looking!
This was one of many places me and Jake wanted to do on our recent trip to Merseyside. It’s been posted numerous times in the past including by Jake a few months back, but I thought I’d post my stance on it aswell as I really liked the place. Reports on here date back to almost a decade ago and it is still good to see it is in reasonable condition especially considering its fairly central location.
Information & History
It’s been covered many times in the past so I won’t go into too much detail. The Synagogue is Grade II* listed and its primary use was for the local Jewish congregation in 1937 and was the largest building of worship for Liverpool’s Jewish community.
A large fire occurred at the site at the tail-end of the 50s which was started by a burglar. The fire resulted in part of the roof being damaged in addition to the Torah Ark and its Scrolls. The building was repaired two years later at a cost of £50k which equates to over £900k in today’s money. There was another fire, albeit less significant, in 1965.
The site closed in January 2008 due to a decreasing number of visitors. The site has laid derelict since then. Since the closure, Historic England upgraded the listed status from Grade II to Grade II* and is now on the Heritage at Risk register. A few years ago, approval was given for the building to be renovated into apartments but these plans never materialised and it still sits in a derelict state today.
The Explore
I was quite on edge at this one to start with, just due to the fact that I have had a few run-ins with undesirables in city centre locations and I’ve heard there are normally homeless staying here. Despite this, we didn’t run into any major issues. We first quickly scouted it out without the camera, and then decided to go back to the car and take the cameras in. We just did handhelds for this one and were in and out fairly quickly.
Initially, I thought we wouldn’t be able to get in as on Mar 2023 Streetview, there was a partially-bent gate but this has now been covered with a large fresh board. We did find quite an easy, obvious way in the end and it was effectively a walk-in. There is a fairly fresh-looking camera at the front of the building but I also saw it on some other reports so I’m not sure if it is active.
As we were taking photos, a group of youths came in and started making a load of noise, we then got our final shots and left. When we got in the car and drove off, a police car pulled in near the entrance so we definitely got out at the right time. The building looks like it’s gone slightly downhill a bit in the last year or so but it is still in fairly decent nick all things considered.
As we were rushing a little bit, I decided to only use the 15-85mm zoom lens for this explore, so my external pic is crap but I'm just adding it for completeness really:
Heading on inside, it really is a great place for photos and has some stunning architecture:
I love these arches on the ceiling:
A nice old clock:
Some of the other rooms at the front and the lovely curved staircase in the main foyer:
A plaque commemorating the laying of the foundation stone:
Throwing in a B&W pic to finish off as I liked this shot:
Thanks for looking!
I am surprised it hasn't suffered an arson attack especially given how easy access is (or was).
