Mendips, 251 Menlove Avenue, Liverpool

Mendips, 251 Menlove Avenue, Liverpool

Mendips is an inter-war suburban house of two storeys. The building is notable as the childhood home of John Lennon of The Beatles, where he lived with his aunt Mimi Smith and her husband George Smith.

The house follows a typical inter-war plan. The ground floor comprises a wide hallway, front and rear reception rooms, a rear kitchen, and a morning room to the rear left. The first floor contains three bedrooms, a bathroom, and a separate toilet.

The exterior features leaded casement windows with geometric-floral stained glass designs to the front and side elevations, with plain glazing to the rear. A central ridge stack is shared with the neighbouring house to the right. The south-west front elevation is of two bays with an enclosed, flat-roofed and partly glazed porch to the ground floor left. The porch was enclosed in 1953 by Mimi Smith and served as a practice space for The Beatles to avoid disturbing her in the house. A replica 4-panel front door with a glazed upper light contains a leaded and stained glass design matching the rest of the house, with a slender overlight above. The original door is now in Tokyo. Above the porch to the first floor is a canted 6-light oriel window, and to its right is a two-storey canted bay with 10-light windows. An English Heritage blue plaque commemorating John Lennon's residence is set between the floor levels.

The north-west side elevation has a canted 6-light oriel window to the first floor centre lighting the first floor landing, with 4-light and 2-light windows to the first floor left. A large bay window to the ground floor left has plain glazing; this window was extended to the left beyond the house's rear wall in 1953 to provide additional kitchen space. A partly-glazed rear door opens from the north-east return. The north-east rear elevation features an original single-storey lean-to with a tiled roof and French doors belonging to the dining room; these doors were reinstated by the National Trust around 2002-2003, replacing later aluminium sliding doors. An 8-light window lights the first floor left.

The interior has been furnished in late 1950s style by The National Trust. Original floorboard floors survive in places, along with 4-panel doors incorporating large square upper panels and some original Bakelite light switches. The porch has a black and white tiled floor.

The entrance and stair hall is in simplified mock-Tudor style with applied timber strips simulating panelling and a plate shelf above. The main stair features grouped balusters of two different widths, a closed string, a slightly expanded lower step, and an under-stair cupboard with cloakroom.

The lounge to the front of the ground floor, reserved by the Smiths for formal use, contains a picture rail and a glazed tile fireplace formerly located in the rear dining room. The fireplace is flanked by low shelves installed by Mimi and George Smith to encourage John Lennon's reading. The dining room to the rear right of the ground floor contains a glazed tile fireplace brought in by The National Trust from elsewhere. The morning room to the rear left of the ground floor provides access to the rear kitchen and retains an original servants' call box, dado and picture rails, and a timber fire surround with tiled insert installed by The National Trust. The kitchen contains units and a geometric-patterned black and white tiled floor, both installed by The National Trust; the latter replicates the pattern of the original floor.

To the first floor, the main bedroom to the front right was that of Mimi and George Smith. It contains a tiled fire surround with electric fire and an original light fitting in the bay window, designed to prevent people outside from observing silhouettes. The smaller bedroom to the front left was John Lennon's room. The bedroom to the rear right, used by Mimi Smith's lodgers, contains a stepped glazed tile fireplace. The toilet and bathroom retain original white glazed-tile dados with a black border; the bathroom includes a narrow black geometric-patterned band within the tiling. Both contain geometric-patterned linoleum floors, a medicine cabinet, and an airing cupboard. The sanitaryware was installed by The National Trust.