via https://historicengland.org.uk/

The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is the only official, up to date, register of all nationally protected historic buildings and sites in England – listed buildings, scheduled monuments, protected wrecks, registered parks and gardens, and battlefields.

A public park designed in 1867 which was the first to introduce French influence to the design of parks through the designer Edouard André

Summary

A public park designed in 1867 which was the first to introduce French influence to the design of parks through the designer Edouard André, who had worked with Jean-Charles-Adolphe Alphand on the design of major Parisian parks.

Reasons for Designation

Sefton Park, Liverpool, opened in 1872, is designated at Grade I for the following principal reasons: * Date: the park is an early example of a municipal park; * Design: although enhanced, the park’s design is essentially unchanged from its original layout of 1867; * Designer: the park was designed by Edouard André who had worked on Paris’s parks, and was the first to introduce French park design to England; * Historic interest: the park was and is an important element of one of the England’s great industrial cities, one of the parks designed to form a green belt around Liverpool; * Structures: the park retains various C19 and later memorials and structures including the Grade II* Palm House of 1896; * Planting: the structural planting is retained and is an important feature of the park.

History

The idea of a belt of boulevards and parks around the City of Liverpool was proposed during the 1850s, but it was not until the 1860s that the Corporation responded by buying land for three parks in the city (including Stanley Park qv). Sefton Park was formed from agricultural land purchased in 1864 from Lord Sefton and Mr Livingstone. In 1866 a brief was issued for a public competition for the design of the park. There were twenty-nine entries and the winners were Edouard André (1840-1911) and Lewis Hornblower (1823-79), a Liverpool architect. Rockwork in the park was designed by a French craftsman, Monsieur Combaz (Land Use Consultants 1992). The park was opened by Prince Arthur in 1872, though it had not been completed by that time. Work proceeded but escalating costs meant that the plans had to be curtailed and the proposed botanic gardens, formal garden and grand conservatory had to be abandoned.

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