Across the Sea: CLS and the Liverpool Athaneum

The Athenaeum is, and always has been, a haven in the heart of Liverpool that offers a distinguished setting and an atmosphere unrivalled in the City. It was founded in 1797 to provide a meeting place where ideas and information could be exchanged in pleasant surroundings. Today, it continues to provide this facility in the elegant building near the Bluecoat Chambers in Church Alley.

In addition to its Newsroom, the most splendid room of its kind in Liverpool, the Athenaeum has a justly renowned library, an attractive dining room, and two smaller meeting rooms. The institution is open on Mondays and Tuesdays from 9.00am to 4.00pm, and from 9.00am to 9.00pm on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. It is not open at weekends, save for special functions, such as weddings (for which it is licensed). It is regularly used for outside functions. There is no overnight accommodation, but special rates are available at nearby hotels. Rooms in the Institution are available for hire on a room by room basis.

The Athenaeum has a distinguished list of members or Proprietors as they are referred to within the Athenaeum, drawn from every walk of life from across the City of Liverpool and beyond. Early Proprietors played a major part in the national movement to abolish slavery, and several Nobel Laureates have been Proprietors.

Today’s Proprietors include clerics, lawyers, doctors, and accountants, members of the armed forces, academics, commercial people, and many others.

The heart of the Athenaeum is undoubtedly its library. This is one of the greatest proprietary libraries in the UK.

In 1848, Washington Irving wrote in his sketchbook:

“One of the first places to which a stranger is taken in Liverpool is the Athenaeum; it contains a good library and a spacious reading room and is the great literary resource of the place”.

The “good library” of 1848 has grown considerably. Containing books, prints, maps, and charts, it is one of the most important regional history resources in the country. Although the privileges are primarily reserved for its Proprietors, arrangements can be made, under terms agreed by the Committee, for researchers and others to make use of the library.

The Athenaeum is over two hundred years old, but still maintains its dignity and vigour, without, it is hoped, any stuffiness.

Host or Publisher Charleston Library Society