Wildman, Charlotte. "The Cathedral That Never Was?." Urban Redevelopment and Modernity in Liverpool and Manchester, 1918–39. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016. 167–189. Bloomsbury Collections. Web. 29 Sep. 2021. <http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781474257398.0016>. Downloaded from Bloomsbury Collections, www.bloomsburycollections.com, 29 September 2021, 01:45 UTC. Copyright © Charlotte Wildman 2016. You may share this work for non-commercial purposes only, provided you give attribution to the copyright holder and the publisher, and provide a link to the Creative Commons licence. 6 Th e Cathedral Th at Never Was? Th e Catholic Church in Liverpool also responded to urban redevelopment with ambition and innovation. As architectural expert Charles Reilly announced to readers of the New York Times in 1930, ‘ Liverpool is starting to build a second and even greater cathedral. Her new project, indeed, calls for the greatest cathedral in the world next to St Peter ’ s at Rome. ’1 Designed by Edwin Lutyens, ‘ arguably the greatest British architect of the twentieth century, ’ the planned Catholic cathedral, named the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ, was intended to be second largest in the world and expected to cost £ 3 million.2 Th e impact of the cathedral on the city and beyond was highly anticipated: ‘ I see the cathedral then, like a rainbow across the skies radiating the true and the good ’ , wrote one prominent member of Liverpool Archdiocese.3 For the Archdiocese and, in particular for the cathedral ’ s pioneer, Archbishop of Liverpool Richard Downey (1881 – 1953), it represented an opportunity to transform the way in which Catholicism was seen both in Britain and beyond. Catholic leaders embraced the opportunity presented by Liverpool ’ s wider programme of redevelopment and, using a grandiose building project of their own, sought to market Liverpool as a centre of Catholicism with international signifi cance. Th e cathedral project began in 1929 and in just one decade the Archdiocese ’ s energetic fundraising campaign raised nearly £ 1 million, one-third of the money needed. Th is total was no small achievement since there was no fi nancial help from Rome or even from Catholic leaders in Westminster.4 Th e cathedral ’ s fortunes were short-lived, however, as the Second World War and its demands for labour and material halted progress, leaving only the crypt completed. Post- war infl ation rates saw costs soar to nearly £ 30 million and the Archdiocese eventually abandoned Lutyens ’ cathedral in 1954, and it remains known as ‘ the very greatest building that was never built ’5 . In 1962, Sir Frederick Gibberd ’ s pioneering design replaced Lutyens ’ cathedral, although it is roughly only half the size of Lutyens ’ intended design. 6 Despite the grandiosity of Lutyens ’ and UUrbanrban RRedevelopment.indbedevelopment.indb 116767 229-06-20169-06-2016 115:44:555:44:55 168 Urban Redevelopment and Modernity in Liverpool and Manchester, 1918–39 Downey ’ s planned cathedral, historians have neglected this rather unusual episode in the history of early-twentieth-century Britain. Although references to Lutyens ’ and Downey ’ s Catholic cathedral project do exist, they tend to be limited to architectural historians ’ interest either in the cathedral ’ s aesthetic form or as part of Lutyens ’ career and life more generally.7 As a case study, however, it reveals the ways in which religious leaders such as Downey responded to wider processes of modernity, embraced Liverpool ’ s redevelopment and used the built environment to strengthen Catholic power and infl uence. Th ere are important similarities between the cathedral project and broader innovations in planning and urban design between the two world wars. As we saw in Chapter 1 , Liverpool was at the forefront of trends in urban planning due to its international links and infl uences and through the energetic work of Charles Reilly and the Liverpool School of Architecture. Like urban transformation more generally, the planned Catholic cathedral emerged within a wider international culture of cathedral-building and refl ected the remarkable power, infl uence and ambition of Catholic leaders in a provincial city. Using the cathedral project as a case study, this chapter argues that its extensive fundraising campaign created a powerful Catholic image of the city, in which Catholics, both in Liverpool and beyond, were able to invest. Th e language and rhetoric of the cathedral campaign sought both to impose the power and authority of the Catholic Church and to nurture a strong sense of Catholic shared identity. As with the emerging civic and consumer culture we saw in earlier chapters, the Archdiocese aimed to foster a populist and demotic culture of Catholicism. Th e cathedral project therefore reveals the similarities between Catholic leaders and the investment in urban transformation made by local politicians and businessmen. By implication, a vision of an assertive and dynamic culture of Catholicism emerges, that was in no way marginalized from (and indeed embraced) broader cultural and social changes. A tale of two cathedrals Described by one inhabitant in the 1930s as ‘ the most Irish city in the world outside of Ireland, ’ it is perhaps unsurprising that of all British cities, the attempt to build the largest Catholic cathedral outside of Rome occurred in Liverpool.8 Liverpool was already famous for its large Catholic population following 9 the infl ux of Irish immigrants in the decades aft er the famine of 1846 – 51. UUrbanrban RRedevelopment.indbedevelopment.indb 116868 229-06-20169-06-2016 115:44:555:44:55 Th e Cathedral Th at Never Was? 169 Nevertheless, Irish immigration to Liverpool nearly trebled over the interwar period, from 3,200 migrants in 1924 to 8,200 in 1936, as emigration to America became increasingly diffi cult. 10 Liverpool Diocese (founded in 1850) was reorganized in response to increased Irish migration aft er the First World War. In 1924, the newly created Diocese of Lancaster took forty-six of Liverpool ’ s parishes leaving Liverpool Archdiocese with an offi cial population of 183,811, but this fi gure ignored Catholics living beyond the immediate city centre area. 11 One estimate counted 249,000 Catholics living in the 3- to 4-mile radius surrounding Liverpool Town Hall in 1925, whereas a separate survey suggested Liverpool was home to 400,000 Catholics in 1934. 12 Within a general population of around 750,000, therefore, Liverpool ’ s Catholic community encompassed at least a third and possibly over a half of the city ’ s overall population between the two world wars. Liverpool ’ s other majority religion was Protestantism, and there were notable numbers of Presbyterians, Methodists, and a signifi cant Jewish community. Th e city ’ s Catholic population loomed large in the concerns of local politicians and urban planners, not merely because of its size but also because of its geographical segregation. Scotland Road, a large area between the docks and the city centre, was home to 75,000 Catholics in 1924, which was then larger than the Dioceses of Cardiff , Shrewsbury, Portsmouth and Middlesbrough combined.13 Scotland Road had long been considered the ‘ black spot on the Mersey ’, but many Irish migrants chose to live there because of the support network off ered. 14 It is more accurate to understand the area as a micro-society, with an independent form of hierarchy and social stratifi cation. As Pat O ’ Mara ’ s Autobiography of a Liverpool Irish Slummy testifi es, the lowest social groups lived in Scotland Road ’ s ‘ Courts ’ , narrow alleys home to twenty-fi ve families with two shared toilets. Th e Courts were home to the poorest-paid labourers and underemployed: frequented by the ‘ cheaper elderly whores ’ and where ‘ screams oft en rent the air at night. … Huge cats continually stalked the place, their eyes an eerie phosphorescence in the darkness. ’15 If inhabitants of the Courts were the bottom of Scotland Road ’ s micro-society, O ’ Mara shows that residence outside the Courts, regular work and a strong devotion to Catholicism, placed other families nearer the top. Inhabitants of Scotland Road remained largely unaff ected by Liverpool ’ s interwar redevelopment and Catholics (usually employed in lower paid occupations such as dock work) were oft en unable to move to the new 1930s suburbs because of the high rental costs, although this was not always UUrbanrban RRedevelopment.indbedevelopment.indb 116969 229-06-20169-06-2016 115:44:555:44:55 170 Urban Redevelopment and Modernity in Liverpool and Manchester, 1918–39 lamented. 16 Th e size, stability and cohesiveness of the Catholic community were not only crucial for the Archdiocese ’ s ability to even conceive of such a large cathedral, but also helped to fuel the fantasy around the cathedral of Liverpool as a Catholic city. To the local state, the Catholic population loomed large and threatened rebellion, instability and violence. Sectarian divisions had always been strong in Liverpool and the year 1909 was particularly bloody. Tensions continued to shape local culture – Liverpool did not unveil a civic memorial to the fallen of the First World War until 1930 because of sectarian tensions and divisions over its form and design. 17 Th e infl uence of religion on local politics in Liverpool is well documented and, for instance, one commentator in the 1920s, ‘ likened the monthly Labour meetings to “ a lesson in apartheid ” , where members segregated themselves according to religion and politics ’. 18