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300 Facts

Bluecoat's fascinating history revealed

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In October 1948, British contralto singer Kathleen Ferrier visited Bluecoat. She was one of many cultural celebrities to sign the visitors' book of the Sandon Studios Society's dining room.

1948

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The Latin inscription over the entrance to Bluecoat is a reminder of its origins as a charity school over 300 years ago.

1717

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Bluecoat has Liverpool's oldest Liver Birds in its front courtyard - one on the front gates, another over the entrance to the building, though this is a later replacement, and two above other doors.

Early 1700s

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In 1907, independent art school, the Sandon Studios Society, moved in to the empty Bluecoat school building, establishing an arts colony which led to the establishment of the UK's first arts centre in 1927.

1907

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In February 1974, David Saunders, a lecturer at the art school - recently absorbed into Liverpool Polytechnic - exhibited a selection of his ‘serial' paintings at Bluecoat.

1974

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In February 1994, Janet Hodgson projected the repeated school punishment lines "I must learn to know my place” onto the front of the building, a reminder of Bluecoat's time as a charity school.

1994

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Liverpool artist, poet and performer, Adrian Henri exhibited his art and read poetry many times at Bluecoat. Described as a 'total artist', his first exhibition here was in 1958, and in 2014 Bluecoat's print studio produced an edition featuring a familiar

14th February

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Bluecoat opened its second Post-Impressionist exhibition in February 1913. Alongside works by Picasso, Matisse, Cézanne and Van Gogh, British artists exhibited, including members of the Sandon Studios Society, which was based at Bluecoat, and Duncan

1913

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In May 2002, Turkish artist Sumer Erek presented his life-sized Upside Down House in Bluecoat's front courtyard.

2002

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Leading architect, Sir Edwin Lutyens visited Bluecoat for lunch in May 1928, one of hundreds of guests to patronise the Sandon Dining Room in this period.

1928

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Reflecting Liverpool's economic decline and betrayal, Nina Edge's 1995 participatory performance, Sold Down the River, processed from Bluecoat to Albert Dock.

1995

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Bluecoat commission, Twins, by ​Cologne-based artist Angie Hiesl​, involving pairs of identical twins, was staged at the A Foundation (now Camp and Furnace) ​in 2009.

2009

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When the Bluecoat building was up for sale in 1925/26, the large ground floor room was leased as a car showroom.

1920s

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Grace Surman’s solo performance, White, was part of Bluecoat's Liverpool Live programme for the 2004 Biennial.

2004

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Australian artist Aleks Danko’s 2004 Liverpool Biennial performance, Rolling Home, involved rolling large soft blue houses through the city to the Bluecoat courtyard.

2004

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Contemporary dance companies the Cholmondeleys and the Featherstonehaughs ​collaborated on a performance in Church ​Street ​for Bluecoat's Summer in the City '95.

1995

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Bluecoat was severely damaged during the 1941 May Blitz, when Liverpool suffered some of the worst bombing of World War Two.

1941

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The foundation stone of the Bluecoat building was laid on 3 May 1716.

1716

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Bluecoat's first exhibition of modern art opened on 2 May 1908, and featured a painting by French Impressionist, Claude Monet.

1908

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Russia's revolutionary spirit was evoked by contemporary Leningrad artists who took over Bluecoat in 1989, accompanied by a legendary gig by Pop Mechanica (Popular Mechanics) at St George's Hall.

1989

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Liverpool performance group Visual Stress' Death by Free Enterprise cleansed Bluecoat of its slavery-connected origins the week that Tate of the North (Tate Liverpool) opened in May 1988.

1988

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The secluded courtyard outside Bluecoat's Sandon Room was reputedly once a swimming pool used by members of the Sandon Studios Society, Bluecoat's founding artistic group. This was commemorated in the 2017 performance installation POOL by Mary Prestidge

2017

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Spanish artist Xavier Ribas' 2015 Bluecoat exhibition, Nitrate, charted the history of nitrate extraction in the Atacama Desert, Chile.

2015

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Adrian Henri's Bluecoat 1987 retrospective exhibition was opened by another Liverpool cultural legend, the singer, writer and entertainer, George Melly, who frequented Bluecoat as a child.

1987

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