Bridewell Studios

Bridewell Studios, Prescot Street, is a former police station, divisional headquarters and bridewell (prison) built around 1920–1926. The complex is constructed in brick with pressed red brick facings and sandstone dressings laid in English Garden Wall Bond, with Welsh slate roofs arranged in diminishing courses and hipped at the ridges. The cast-iron rainwater goods survive, and the architectural style is eclectic, combining classical and Queen Anne influences.

Plan and Setting

The complex has an L-shaped plan with buildings and a high wall enclosing a central yard. The site is bounded by Prescot Street to the front, Prospect Street to the rear, and Harper Street to the east. The main building fronts Prescot Street, with a single-storey range set at right angles to its left rear. A cell range runs parallel to Prospect Street at the rear of the site, connecting to the Superintendent's house, which has elevations facing Harper Street, Prospect Street, and the enclosed yard. High walls to the south-east enclose the central yard. A large arched gateway with channelled rustication, located to the left of the Superintendent's residence, provides access into the yard and incorporates an elaborate carved relief of Liverpool city's coat of arms.

Main Building

The main building is two storeys over a basement, with a seven-bay front elevation. The basement has channelled rusticated stonework. The centre and end bays are faced in stone, flanked by stone pilaster strips topped with a Greek-style frieze. The centre bay features a carved roundel. The main entrance is positioned at the far right, retaining its original double doors with a decorative surround to the upper part and a bead-and-reel moulded flat hood above, supported on carved consoles. Windows throughout have carved stone surrounds: 6-over-6 sash windows appear on the ground and first floors, while the centre bay has paired 4-over-4 sash windows. Basement windows have diagonal metal bars. A dentil eaves cornice runs below a pressed brick and stone parapet, with a pierced balustrade to the end bays and small carved lion heads to the centre and end bays. Two large stone ridge stacks rise from the roof. The side elevations are blank and rendered. At the rear, large 6-over-6 sash windows and slender casements have flat-arched heads in gauged pressed brick, with two brick chimney stacks.

Rear Range

The rear range is single storey with four bays and a flat roof featuring two large skylights. It may originally have served as part of the fire station and was later used as a parade room. Three large arched recessed multipaned windows have stone sills and keystones; the window at the far right has replaced glazing to the lower part. A tall arched doorway in the same style is located in bay three. To the rear, a three-storey building in plain brick fronts Prospect Street, probably originally general officer accommodation, accessed via the interior of the rear range. It has sash windows, a stone eaves cornice, carved panels between the first and second floor windows, a parapet wall to the flat roof, and a chimney stack. A third-floor doorway on the south side leads onto the roof. A later garage block is attached to the north-west.

Cell Range and Superintendent's House

The cell range has five bays with short arched multipaned windows in the same style as the rear range; the window in bay two has replaced lower glazing. A central arched doorway with five-panel double doors is accessed by a short timber stair. Attached to this is the Superintendent's house fronting Harper Street, designed in the Queen Anne style with six bays and three chimney stacks. The ground floor has 6-over-6 sash windows, the first floor 3-over-3 sashes, with carved stone panels between the floors. Rusticated quoin strips mark each corner. The main entrance in bay four has a recessed timber and glazed double door with diagonal bars to the glazed upper panels, an overlight incorporating the police star emblem, a carved stone surround, and a flat hood supported on carved consoles. Additional entrances in similar style are found on the left and right side elevations; the entrance on the left, within the enclosed yard, leads into the cell area.

Interior

Timber floorboards, concrete and parquet floors survive throughout the complex.

The main building has a linear plan with a central hallway. Original brown tiled fireplaces remain, along with tiled dados in the entrance hall (green) and hallways (brown) with patterned bands at the top. Arched openings lead to the hallways, and an enquiries hatch survives in the ground floor hallway. Original painted blue timber and glazed doors are found throughout, with diagonal glazing bars to the upper panels (some glazing is painted or boarded over). Moulded cornicing survives in some ground and first floor rooms. The main dog-leg stair has a timber handrail and pierced metal balustrade, also painted blue. An original sign with a hand pointing to the upper floor reads 'DETECTIVE OFFICE'.

The rear range is open plan with two large multipaned skylights, a parquet floor, and a white tiled dado. Officer accommodation in the north-west corner has an enclosed dog-leg stair with a brown tiled dado to the concrete stair and landings, matching the style of the main building. Original tiled fireplaces, coving, doors and toilets survive. An inserted doorway in the west wall of the ground floor provides access into the adjacent later garages.

The cell range has white tiled walls and ceilings, with nine cells in total. Six retain their original form, and five retain their original metal doors. The cells have vaulted ceilings and original barred arched windows with inserted glazing in front. The cells at the far left have had their side walls knocked through, and one cell has an enlarged entrance.

The Superintendent's house has a tiled entrance vestibule at the yard entrance, some original fireplaces, original doors, and a timber dog-leg stair. Some ground floor areas have been partitioned, and an inserted screen and door appear on the first floor landing.

History

The first bridewell and fire station at Prescot Street was built in 1853, with the land costing £926. Further land to the east was purchased in 1899 for £2,050. Late 19th- and early 20th-century maps show a building complex with structures mainly at the rear of the site and a small central courtyard. The present configuration of buildings first appears on a map in 1928, although the main building fronting Prescot Street and the rear range were completed by 1920. The site originally functioned as a bridewell and fire station, remaining in combined use until 1921, when it became Prescot Street Police Station, Divisional Headquarters and Bridewell.

In 1905 it was determined that the station had inadequate space and facilities, along with poor residential accommodation for the Superintendent. The Corporation owned adjacent property and land, and plans were made to enlarge the site. These included providing rooms for the Inspector and Detective Inspector, increasing accommodation for the sergeants, adding a store, an enlarged charge room and parade room, and improving light for the cells. This adjacent property is believed to be the site of the present Superintendent's residence and part of the cell complex, with building work completed by 1926 at a cost of £9,241.

By 1976 the police station had ceased use and was rented by a group of artists, becoming established as Bridewell Studios. The group later formed a not-for-profit organisation in 1981, Art Space Merseyside Ltd, which still operates from the building. Over the years the property has provided workspace for internationally recognised artists including Stephen Broadbent, Anish Kapoor and David Gray, and has served as a filming location for 'Boys from the Blackstuff'.