Liverpool Athenaeum
| Liverpool Athenaeum | |
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Entrance to Liverpool Athenaeum
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 Location in Liverpool
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| General information | |
| Address | Church Alley |
| Town or city | Liverpool |
| Country | England |
| Coordinates | 53°24′17″N 2°59′02″W / 53.40460°N 2.98396°WCoordinates: 53°24′17″N 2°59′02″W / 53.40460°N 2.98396°W |
| Owner | The Athenaeum |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Harold Dod |
| Website | |
| theathenaeum |
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The Athenaeum is a private members club in Liverpool, England. It has been in continuous use since the end of the 18th century. The club was founded to ensure the up-to-date provision of newspapers and pamphlets, and to create a library for the use of the merchants and professional men in the city. The original building was demolished, and replaced by a new building nearby, in 1924. The members of the club are known as Proprietors, because they subscribe to a share, and they include both men and women. The building contains a large library, and it is also used by the Proprietors for social functions. It can be hired for use by outside individuals and organisations.
The club was founded on 22 November 1797. Towards this date, Liverpool had been growing rapidly as a commercial centre. The merchants and other professionals in the city needed a supply of up-to-date news. This was usually provided by newspapers and periodicals in coffee houses, but these were frequently overcrowded. There was also a need for a library because the existing library, founded in 1758, was not considered to be adequate. The founders of the club produced a prospectus entitled Outlines of a Plan for a Library and Newsroom, which proposed "to procure a regular supply of newspapers, both town and country, all the periodical publications of any value, and all the pamphlets that have reference to subjects of local or general polity or commerce". This required subscribers to shares in the 'Institution' and hence the names 'Proprietor' are used rather than 'club' and 'member'; all 'members' on joining still sign the original Share Register and the limited number of 500 means that all members can trace their predecessors in this. The founder subscribers commissioned the local architect John Foster to design a building for them in Church Street. This opened on 1 January 1799, and its library opened on 1 May 1800. The early members of the club included "entrepreneurs, slavery-abolitionists, free-thinkers, and political radicals, who regarded themselves as the commercial and intellectual champions of Liverpool".
From 1809 until 1813 Rev Theophilus Houlbrooke FRSE served as President of the club.
At this time there were gentlemen's clubs in London, but these were more political in nature, or were institutions for gambling. The opening of the Liverpool Athenaeum preceded the club of the same name in London by 27 years. The members of the Liverpool club arranged for express riders, messengers, and the regular coaches serving the city, to bring them all the latest news, information, and ideas. In addition to books, the library gathered a collection that included navigation charts, maps and globes. It also obtained items from the private library of one of its founder members, William Roscoe. In time the library grew into "one of the world's most highly regarded private literary collections".
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Wikipedia