The Times

The Great Depression may be remembered as a time of hardship but, according to a regional historian, it also gave a concrete legacy to cities like Liverpool and Manchester.

Dr Charlie Wildman from the University of Manchester has studied the archives of Liverpool and Manchester for the 1920s and 1930s, and discovered that city authorities invested heavily in public transport and civic and commercial architecture in the depression years.

A promotion for Lutyens cathedral

Iconic landmarks such as the Mersey Tunnel, Liverpool’s Philharmonic Hall and Manchester Central Library were all built in the 1930s.

In an attempt to restore civic pride both Liverpool and Manchester also created civic exhibitions and official celebrations.

"Without doubt, the Great Depression caused huge hardship for millions of people – but that was not the whole story", says Dr Wildman.

“Municipal rulers, civic leaders, and businessmen were the spur for amazing levels of confidence, innovation and civic pride."

In Liverpool £1m was raised to build the city’s Catholic Cathedral, designed to be the largest outside Rome.

The Edwin Lutyens building, which would have been twice the size of the Anglican Cathedral was never completed, but its proposal showed the determination of the city to take its place on the world stage.

During the years of the Great Depression Liverpool Corporation embarked on mammoth public housing projects with 15 per cent of the city’s population, around 140,000 people, re-housed between the wars into 33,355 purpose built suburban homes.

The Mersey Tunnel opened in 1934

The first Mersey road tunnel, Queensway, was completed in 1934 and opened by the King in a large civic ceremony on 18 July, 1934.

The city also encouraged architects to emulate American building styles, particularly that of New York, this is exemplified in the work of Herbert Rowse on India Buildings, Martins Bank, the Philharmonic Hall and much of the external architecture and buildings of the Queensway tunnel.

In Manchester the city invested large sums of money in extending the Town Hall and building the city's central library.

Dr Wildman’s research also shows the innovation of retailers to attract shoppers, Gracie Fields appeared as a shop assistant at Bon Marche in Liverpool for example.

There was also a sea change in the nations shopping habits with the growth of city centres as retail locations, "Many retail businesses moved from the suburbs to central locations," explains Dr Wildman.

"They adopted creative ideas to attract more customers who could shop at lower prices.

A model of Lutyen's Cathedral

"This had a lasting legacy through the creation of the modern high street and what we recognise today as shopping culture."

This is borne out by the figures for clothing stores in Liverpool, in 1922 there were 1109 clothing shops in inner Liverpool and 2025 in the outer city, by 1938 there were 1209 in inner Liverpool and just 830 in outer Liverpool.

As for lessons for today, Dr Wildman says it's too early to predict whether present economic conditions will lead to a similar growth in creativity," The jury’s out on whether the similar levels of creativity will result from today’s economic crisis – but I don’t see why not."

From the PhD thesis ‘Spectacular Urban Culture in the Age of Decline: Liverpool and Manchester, 1918-1939 by Dr Charlie Wildman