The Hardmans' House

Step back in time to the 1950s in this fascinating home and photographic studio

Explore the contrasting sides of this house: the neat, professional, spacious business rooms and the cluttered, cramped living quarters of the renowned portrait photographer Edward Chambré Hardman and his wife Margaret. They lived and worked here for 40 years, keeping everything and changing nothing.

The business focused on professional studio portraits but their real love was for vivid landscape images. Some of their huge collection of photographs is on display in the house, along with the equipment they used to take and develop the iconic images.

During 2012, explore our two new exhibitions. The 'Where Great Ships Were Built' exhibition shows how Liverpool's maritime heritage inspired Edward to produce stunning photographs of the docks, ships and the people that worked on them. Up in the Discovery Room, learn about the impact of rationing and how the British public were encouraged to make do and mend.

• Join us in knitting our ‘exhibition scarf’ How colourful and long can we make it by the end of the year?
• Read our original Board of Trade and Ministry of Food leaflets and learn how to use up your stale crusts, bottle fruit and even save energy WWII style.
• Gain tips on how to make your own clothes and darn socks.
• Pick up unusual recipes to help you use up your food and save those pennies. Could you survive on one weeks food rations from 1942?