The eagle has landed again

Oct 3 2008 by Peter Elson, Liverpool Daily Post

A small but symbolic piece of American heritage returned to its Liverpool home this week. Peter Elson reports

WHEN you visit a shopping centre, you don’t expect a lesson in world history caused by one of your ancestors.

Yet, when the Princess Royal arrived on Wednesday to open Liverpool One’s second phase, guided by its director Rodney Holmes, she saw a reminder of a monarch’s far-reaching actions.

The loss of Britain’s American colonies, under King George III in the 1776 War of Independence, caused reverberations across Europe and spawned the world’s greatest power.

In 1790, the fledgling nation opened its first consulate abroad after James Maury Jnr disembarked in Liverpool.

As Princess Anne saw, Maury’s former office now sits amid Liverpool’s newest, biggest and glitziest shopping centre.

For more than two centuries, that office was marked by a gilded sculpture of the US’s national symbol, a bald-headed eagle, staring over Paradise Street. The consulate stood on the quayside of Steers Dock and the Pool of Liverpool, with its glinting eagle, a reassuring sign to American sailors or travellers aboard clippers mooring alongside.

The dock has long been filled in. The quay is now a roadway and the water which the consulate once faced is now occupied by John Lewis and Liverpool One’s other new stores.

After various uses, the former consulate building became The American Eagle pub during Victorian times and finally The Eagle, before sinking into dereliction over many years.

This once-proud sculpted creature, which proclaimed the first foot of a nascent nation planted on foreign soil, fell into a desperately sorry and bedraggled state. When the 200kg carving was removed for renovation at the Conservation Centre by National Museums Liverpool, it fell apart into 12 pieces.

Nobody knows the carving’s age and it is possibly (but unlikely) to be the original installed in the 1790s. This would have been imported from the US, probably made by shipwrights skilled in carving ships’ figureheads.

David Whitty, a Conservation Centre technician, carved a new head based on photos (the original was lost), new wing tips and a lower base.

“This has been one of my most satisfying jobs. We dried it out for several months before starting restoration in late May,” says David, from Claughton, Wirral.

“The carving was put in a caustic bath to strip it back to bare wood. The challenge was re-assembly and it needed an integrated steel frame. After adding the new pieces, it was coated in gold paint and glaze with resin on the back. It should be good for another 200 years!”

Rodney Holmes, director of Liverpool One, who has overseen the entire project from conception, is quietly delighted with the restored eagle sculpture.

“The old Eagle pub is special for us, as it was the first building we bought. It was derelict and empty. From the start, we realised this part of the site was full of history and we’ve restored 10 original properties.

“We wanted to ensure that all aspects of the scheme respect the history of the area, which is why we’re also building underground access to Liverpool’s Old Dock.

“Liverpool’s 18th-century history is around us here and as this is the original American consulate abroad, it was too important not to get it restored and put the eagle back into place.

“History like this creates a sense of place, by giving a city depth, character and makes them what they are.”

Sadly, this concern did not apply to Liverpool’s oldest dwelling – c1710 – Mr Brooks’s house, at 31 Hanover Street, which was demolished one quiet Sunday three years ago to make way for the sprawling Liverpool One development.

Oddly, Mr Brooks’s attached warehouses were deemed worthy of preservation, thereby leaving us with only half the story.

Liverpool badly needs a Georgian merchant’s house authentically restored and this was the top contender. The kudos Grosvenor is receiving for the Eagle building restoration would be nothing compared to restoring Mr Brooks’ house for the city.

In contrast, the Eagle’s facade received a 1930s make-over, but such was the property’s fragility that it needed a budget-busting steel frame to be inserted for stability.

No decision has yet been made about inviting any US dignitaries to officially open the restored building. Such was its past revered status that any visiting American VIPs would pay a courtesy visit.

One dreads to think how they reacted to its run-down states in latter years. Its intended use as a compact disc shop can only be an improvement – a seedy place to a CD place.

“We want an interpretation panel, but I’ve found by experience here you can easily get it wrong and there’s always someone to put you right afterwards,” chuckles Rodney.

One such person could be Fred O’Brien, seasoned campaigner for Liverpool’s American heritage, who has long taken a close interest in former consulate’s future.

“Seeing the restored eagle sculpture is magic. We can thank Grosvenor’s Liverpool One and Rodney Holmes for restoring a truly historic building,” says Fred. “I believe there’s only one other official American eagle sculpture in the UK and that’s above the US embassy in Grosvenor Square, London.

“I’m proud America’s first consulate abroad was sited here. An American resident here, Zane Branson, once said there is more American history in Liverpool than in many US cities.

“This will become the focus for any American visitors coming to the city. John Lennon said New York was like Liverpool, but going at 24 hours a day. I would like this American connection exploited, attracting a tidal wave of American visitors. This building is so important, we should invite the US ambassador to officially reinaugurate it.”

Local experts on the American Civil War, John Hussey and Bob Jones, are also thrilled with this small, but deeply meaningful act of conservation.

“Liverpool in the past has been very remiss in treating our historic buildings with a cavalier ignorance. Many locals feel many more artefacts like this should be returned,” says John.

Bob says: “The restored eagle is brilliant. This is history that belongs to Liverpool and the Americans. I know the Fontaine-Maury family are following this with great interest in the US.

“Liverpool One shows the way forward in integrating new facilities while retaining what’s good, instead of our usual habit of throwing out the baby with the bathwater.”

peter.elson