Liverpool International Nordic Community
125 Years - Gustaf Adolf Kyrka Church
History
of the Gustaf Adolf
Church in Liverpool
Original Concept
The decision to establish a religious mission in Liverpool, in order to meet the pastoral needs of Scandinavian seamen and the growing number of emigrants on their way to North America and other overseas destinations, was the result of a recommendation by the Swedish-Norwegian Church Council in London, where a mission had already been established by the Evangelical Patriotic Foundation (Evangeliska Fosterlands-Stiftelsen) in 1862.
The first priest, Per August Tegner, arrived in Liverpool on 22 August 1870 and the first service was held six days later at South Bethel.
Establishment of the Church Building
The case for a separate church was compelling, because of the numbers of transient Scandinavian people in the Liverpool area. By the late 1870’s and early 1880’s, the annual number of Scandinavian emigrants passing through Liverpool reached 50,000, and the priest was obliged to undertake innumerable visits to ships and local boarding houses.
The commission to design and build the church was given to a young architect, William Douglas Caroe, who went on to be a major representative of the closing phase of the Gothic revival in Britain.
He was born in 1857, educated at Ruabon and Trinity College Cambridge, and articled to John Loughborough Pearson. He became known as “a consummate master of building according to medieval precedent”. Caroe undoubtedly obtained the commission through his father, who was then the Danish Consul in Liverpool, but nepotism, at least in this case, had the reward with the creation of a unique building, which contained many Scandinavian features, including stepped gables and a concave sided lead covered spire over the entrance. Construction costs amounted to 50.000 Swedish crowns, a mere £15,000 today. The building was started in 1883 and completed in 1884.
The church stands today as one of only 4 octagonal church buildings in the UK and one of about 30 in Sweden. It was also the first Swedish church built overseas, although there were missions operating out of other premises.
The church now stands as an island of antiquity amongst the dockland development of modern day Liverpool, very close to the Canning Dock area of the waterfront.
Today’s Church
The church is a Grade II listed building and remains a distinct feature of the docklands area of Liverpool. It was viewed by contemporise as “the largest and most beautiful seaman’s church in the world. The original building has not been altered significantly to any degree, apart from the decision, some time ago, to remove the balconies from the original two storey place of worship and to install a middle floor, thus creating a separate location for social events between the basement and the actual church.
The church possesses a fine organ, and five plaster reliefs by Robert Anning Bell RA, RWS (1863-1933). These reliefs used to form the reredos to the altar, but now hang separately in the church.
Bell was an important figure in the development of Art Nouveau in Britain and was influential at Liverpool’s university School of Architecture and Applied Arts from the late 1890’s before gaining a professorship at the Glasgow School of Art from 1911 and then at the Royal College of Art, after the end of the first world war. There are also two important statues by the local sculptor Arthur Dooley, these figures are the Madonna and the Christ figures. Dooley was born in Liverpool and initially apprenticed as a welder in a Birkenhead shipyard. After studying at St Martin’s school, he became an internationally recognised sculptor, primarily of religious works, usually made in either bronze or scrap metal. Prior to his death, Dooley was a regular visitor to the church.