United Kingdom - Birkenhead Park, the pioneering People’s Park

Birkenhead Park is situated in the town of Birkenhead, in the Wirral Peninsula. The proposed site includes the originally designed parkland (44 ha), the Park’s eight lodges, and a selection of the mid- 19th century residential properties. The total site area is 51 ha. Designed in the style of the English Landscape School, its undulating parkland consists of a crafted combination of earthworks, substantial tree stands, lakes, shrubs and grassland, and iconic buildings and structures. The core area of historic significance is bordered by Victorian villas, in line with the 1844 plan. Aerial views reveal how the Park’s ‘organic’ shape breaks with the grid-iron of surrounding streets, creating the sense of a picturesque ‘natural’ landscape. The manner of its design – the irregularity of the lakes, planting, earth modelling, rockwork, as well as its carefully ‘hidden and revealed’ views – provides a feeling of countryside in an urban conurbation. The Boat House, the Swiss Bridge, the Rockery, the Grand Entrance as well as the Park’s six lodges (e.g. Italian, Gothic, Castellated, Normans, and Central) reflect different architectural styles, to enable all visitors to appreciate key phases in architectural history and the development of major European styles. There is no principal focal point, and all elements are of equal importance. This egalitarian approach shaped Birkenhead Park as a pioneering ‘democratic landscape’.