Hospital

Creative... this is the real photo from the kaleidoscope of yesterday. It was when I was sitting in the café over the road waiting for my appointment at the New Royal.

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A tall concrete building, almost entirely demolished, stands as the last vertical remnant of the old Royal Liverpool Hospital. The photo is taken from inside a café, with two red pendant lights visible above. A single red demolition crane reaches up the building’s left side, its claw pulling away at the top floor while a cascade of dust and rubble falls. A torrent of water gushes from the crane’s tip, used to suppress dust. The structure’s inner walls are exposed, wires dangling, windows shattered. On the right, the wrecked remains of adjoining sections reveal once-painted walls in faded pastels. Behind the ruins, a modern building gleams, its clean lines contrasting the broken shell. Blue construction hoardings line the street below.

This is building I knew well. It replaced the Liverpool Infirmary in 1978, which still stands nearby (And is now used by the university of Liverpool) and which I also knew, and used to attend with my baby daughter. The new Royal rises just next door. Through the café window, I watched the demolition cranes at work, water streaming to keep down the dust, revealing the bones of what was once a busy, vital place.
Sometimes, a photo isn’t just a photo. It’s a portal through layers of memory - of places, of people, of change.
(This is the final phase of demolition. Only this narrow slice remained.)

A little extra...
Going back some years, to my childhood...
When I was a child, I loved watching demolition work . And when I was about 15 at school, I couldn't do a lot of subjects because of my deafness and I pushed and pushed to do Art because they did not believe in Art as a subject, and I was the only one doing Art. I found some buildings were being demolished (1965) and I managed to get permission to go out and do sketches and photographs of these old buildings being demolished. I don't think that would be allowed nowadays, especially a girl on her own.

Have an amazing day.

Take care