Hamilton Vault Studios: Heritage Exhibition
Our heritage exhibition opened as part of Art After Dark, a town-wide event organised by Make CIC, including 18 creative venues. Opening on Friday, 20th March, until Sunday, 22nd March, our exhibition was designed to explore the layered history and evolving identities of 1 Hamilton Square. By presenting archival material, research, and creative work, we invited visitors to reflect on the building’s transformation over time as its central theme. Architectural heritage, banking history, found objects, and contemporary practice came together to show how a single place can embody multiple eras and uses.
Image of 1 Hamilton Square, dated 1940.
History of the Square
Hamilton Square is at the heart of this story, one of the most significant planned civic spaces of the 19th century. Designed by James Gillespie Graham and commissioned by William Laird, the square formed part of a vision for an ambitious new town near Birkenhead's docks. Built in 1825, 1 Hamilton Square shows this ambition through its brickwork, Welsh slate roof, and measured classical details, expressing permanence and civic pride.
As a unified terrace, the building echoes a broader architectural rhythm marked by symmetry and repetition. This purposefully positioned Hamilton Square as a counterpart to major British urban squares. Nearly two centuries on, that vision remains, reflected in the building’s continuing presence and design.
Layers of Use: From Bank to Gallery
One of the key themes explored in the exhibition was the building’s long and varied history of use. Many visitors were surprised to learn that the space once operated as a branch of Lloyds Banking Group, previously associated with Lloyds TSB. This explains the vault's presence, which now serves as a gallery space but was originally designed to secure cash, documents, and safety deposit boxes.
By March 1957, the building was a Lloyds branch, though earlier records show a more complex history. Previously, the Liverpool & London & Globe Insurance Company occupied it, as 1942 photos reveal. Local press ads marked the transition until the late 1950s.
In the 1990s, the branch became part of the Wirral Cluster, was later reorganised into the Chester and Wirral group, and formally named the Hamilton Square, Birkenhead branch. Following its use as a bank, the building became a solicitor’s office, with the vault repurposed to store wills and probate documents.
Heritage Exhibition at the Vault
A New Chapter: The Vault as a Creative Space
Since 2022, the building has shifted to focus on art, creativity, and community. Renovations made the lower ground floor, once neglected, ready for studios, exhibitions, and film projects. The building has moved from financial transactions to cultural exchange.
The renovation process required sensitivity to the building’s Grade I listed status, ensuring that any interventions respected its historic character. Walls were stripped back, systems updated, and spaces reconfigured to create four studios alongside the gallery in the former vault. Throughout, the aim has been to retain the integrity of the original architecture while enabling new uses.
The building now supports a range of practices, with exhibitions and film projects all responding to its distinctive textures, proportions, and atmosphere. Rather than holding a single identity, the space continues to adapt, shaped by the people and works it hosts, such as our work for last year’s Art After Dark, which saw artist Ellie Hoskins transform the space into an immersive installation.
Our role in this context is that of custodians: maintaining, adapting, and working within the constraints and opportunities the building presents. The exhibition was, in many ways, a moment to pause and acknowledge the depth of that history, while also recognising the ongoing process of transformation that continues to define the space.
Moving forward, the building embraces a renewed sense of purpose: rooted in heritage, shaped by community, and ready for change.
Ellie Hoskin’s Installation, IF I WAS MARRIED TO TOMMY FURY
Until Next Time...
Thank you to everyone who attended our heritage exhibition and learned about the history within our walls and our plans for the future. We have lots of exciting programmes for 2026 and hope that you will join us.
If you’re interested in putting on a show at The Vault, get in touch! We offer affordable, flexible gallery hire to support our free shows and events at Hamilton Vault Studios.