History of Bluecoat Explore our Collections
Dating from 1717, Bluecoat is the oldest building in both central Liverpool and the city's UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was also the first arts centre in the UK. This collection provides an overview of the building's development from school to arts centre, through a timeline, publications, images and other material.
Image: Timeline wall at Bluecoat, created for the tercentenary in 2017. The large backdrop image is from a print, Recollections of the Blue-Coat Hospital, Liverpool, St George’s Day, 1843. This lithograph by Thomas Picken was published in 1850 by Skinner, Professor of Water Colouring, Liverpool, and printed by G. Webb & Co, London. The print was after a painting by Henry Travis in the collection of the Liverpool Blue Coat School and shows the school band leading the children through the gates, watched by teachers, school governors and the public.

1700
Bluecoat timeline - 1700 to 2017

1717
Portrait of Bryan Blundell

1717
Narrative of the rise and progress of the Charity School, or Blue Coat Hospital

1890
Photograph of a room at the school

1896
Robert Anning Bell, Fanny Dove Hamel Lister in Fancy Dress, 1896, oil on panel, private collection

1910
Photograph of Bluecoat entrance, early 20th century

1994
Janet Hodgson, I must learn to know my place

1984
Sculpture in the Bluecoat garden

1996
Alan Dunn, Euro 96 Football Artist in Residence

1990
Sun Ra Arkestra, Bluecoat performance

1965
Liverpool Mozart Orchestra rehearsing at Bluecoat

1959
Evelyn Tompsett in her Bluecoat studio

1959
Bluecoat Display Centre

2004
Liverpool Arab Arts Festival at Bluecoat

1970
Merseyside Film Institute at Bluecoat

2008
The new arts wing

2017
In the Peaceful Dome exhibition

1859
A Sketch of the Origin and Early History of the Liverpool Blue Coat Hospital by John R. Hughes

1970
Art on the Bluecoat railings

2017
Bluecoat: The first 300 years publication

1976
The Bluecoat: Today and Yesterday

2016
Subscriptions, Schooling and Slavery brochure

1725
Mapp of all the streets lanes and alleys within the town of Liverpool

1700