Great George Street Congregational Church

Great George Street Congregational Church stands on the corner of Great George Street and Nelson Street in Liverpool. It is a former Congregational church converted into a community arts centre. The building is now officially named The Black-E, though it was once nicknamed The Blackie. It is recorded as a Grade II listed building on the National Heritage List for England. The first chapel on the site opened in 1812 and seated nearly 2,000 people. After a fire in 1840, a new church designed by city architect Joseph Franklin was built and opened the following year. Worship continued until 1967, when the Peter Moores Foundation acquired the building. It became the UK’s first community arts project, combining an arts centre with a community space. The architecture features a stone exterior with a semicircular portico and fluted Corinthian columns. Inside, a double staircase with iron balusters remains under a coffered dome. The interior was remodelled in 1975, removing original fittings and adding two floors. Ornamental iron railings line the outside, and the exterior’s darkened appearance once earned it the nickname "The Blackie."