Florence Institute restoration, LOR film, and Liverpool art
The Liverpool Echo is reporting that work could begin as early as April on the restoration of the Florence Institute, which has received £3.7 million restoration money from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
£6.6m has already been raised by the Florence Institute Trust, but the new money will allow the construction of “exhibition and performance space, activities for young people and the elderly, an indoor/outdoor sport area, childcare facilities, workspaces for local business and a Heritage Resource Centre”. An additional £1.7m may be granted by the North West Regional Development Agency.
The Echo also has a brief history of the Florrie, which began life as a boys’ club in 1890.
Overhead Railway video to be screened
Motor coach number 3 is the last surviving coach from the legendary Liverpool Overhead Railway. It was donated to National Museums Liverpool when the LOR closed in 1956.
On Friday 29 January from 1 – 4pm FACT will be screening footage of the LOR, showcasing research into the Lumière brothers’ film footage of the railway, and introduced by Dr Richard Koeck. According to the Art in Liverpool blog:
Dr Koeck will share insights into his research and ongoing production of the film animations that will contextualise and reference the original Lumière archive footage with historical maps of the time, and retrace the precise route of the films.
The LOR and motor coach number 3 will become part of the Port City gallery in the new Museum of Liverpool, due to open in 2011.
Mad About Liverpool?
Of course you are, so head over to the gallery of that name which has opened in Clayton Square. More details on the Art in Liverpool site.
Creative Commons History
Finally, anyone out there know of a good source of Creative Commons historic images?
There’s some good stuff on Flickr Commons, especially from the Library of Congress in the US or the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, but just wondered if there was source of Liverpool pictures I could use to illustrate this blog and Historic Liverpool.
If you know of one, let me know in the comments!