History of the Hardmans’ House

Expert curated

The terrace of houses including The Hardmans' House, Rodney Street, Liverpoo | © National Trust Images/Arnhel de Serra

In 1949, 59 Rodney Street became the home and studio of photographers and business partners Chambré and Margaret Hardman. Their lives revolved around photography - both their commercial endeavours and critically acclaimed private work. It is the only British photographic studio of the mid 20th century where the photographers’ entire output survives intact together with the studio, darkroom, technical equipment, business papers and personal effects.

The house had a long history before the Hardmans moved in. The building was completed in 1793 during a period of booming industry and expansion in Liverpool. It has been home for an artist, a merchant, reverend, and multiple surgeons and their families over the years.

Georgian Liverpool

Number 59 Rodney Street is a terraced house in Liverpool’s Georgian Quarter. During the 1700s, the city expanded rapidly in response to the development of the docks, increased trade and the need to house more people. In 1715, the world’s first wet dock was built in Liverpool. This innovative dock enabled ships to be turned around more quickly, increasing productivity. The trade in enslaved people was a key part of Liverpool’s growth and by 1740 it had become the chief port in Europe for this trade.

The origins of 59 Rodney Street

The area around Rodney Street was developed as a residential area between 1783 and the 1820s. From 1790 onwards, several houses including number 59, were built by American brothers Thomas (1747–1803) and William Charles Lake (1753–1836). The Lakes were merchants who had settled in Liverpool. Their businesses included a packet service to Ireland, pottery and, as part owners of several slave ships, the trade in enslaved people. In April 1793, the brothers were declared bankrupt, and their houses were sold through public auction.

Thomas Hazelhurst

On 17 July 1793, number 59 was bought by the highest bidder, miniatures painter Thomas Hazlehurst (c. 1740–c. 1821) for £641. The house became his art studio, and he invited people to come and sit for their portraits in a very similar way to the Hardmans 150 years later. He was a pupil of Sir Joshua Reynolds and was successful in his lifetime. There are miniatures by him in the National Trust collection including a portrait of Hannah Greg at nearby Quarry Bank. After Hazelhurst, the house was mainly owned by a series of surgeons and their families until 1949 when it was bought by Chambré and Margaret Hardman.

Portrait, Edward Chambre Hardman, 1920s — A portrait of Edward Chambre Hardman dating from the 1920s | © ©National Trust Images/Edward Chambré Hardman Collection

Home and Photographic Studio of Chambré and Margaret Hardman

Irish photographer Edward Fitzmaurice Chambré Hardman (1898–1988), known as Chambré, was born in Foxrock, County Dublin. At the peak of his career, he was considered Liverpool’s foremost studio portrait photographer. He had a long and distinguished association with the Royal Photographic Society, was a Fellow of the Institute of British Photographers and a member of the London Salon of Photography. In 1932, he married fellow photographer Ethel Margaret Mills (known as Margaret) (1908–70). They met in 1926 when Liverpool-born Margaret became a photographic assistant at the 'Burrell and Hardman' studio in Bold Street. In 1938, they opened a second studio together, in St. Werburgh, Chester. By 1949, their business was thriving, and they were able to move to Rodney Street, a more affluent and prestigious area of Liverpool.

Who visited the studio?

The prestige of sitting for a Hardman portrait was coveted by the elite of actors, dancers, politicians and socialites. Yet it wasn't just personalities who visited the studio. They also photographed many people of all ages from across Liverpool and beyond, from the clergy to uniformed nurses and soldiers, from large family groups to pets. Frequent sittings of newborn babies and brides ensured significant life events were captured.

The Mounting Room at the Hardmans' House, Liverpool | © ©National Trust Images/Arnhel de Serra

A rare survival

Photographic studios were once an abundant feature in towns and cities but very few survive. The Hardmans’ House is remarkably intact. It contains everything the Hardmans needed to run their successful photographic business including technical equipment, props, photographic studio, darkrooms, mounting room, and a waiting room. Chambré and Margaret’s lives revolved around photography and their living quarters are comparatively humble and cluttered. The few rooms they lived in are filled with their original furniture, clothing, toiletries, magazines and the kitchen cupboards are still filled with post-war rations.

The Art of Photography

For the Hardmans, photography was art. Chambré was a passionate practitioner of pictorialism. He did not take pictures, he made them. The final image was created in the darkroom by playing with focus and manipulation. In their private darkroom they developed the landscape photography that they were passionate about and became also renowned for. They depicted rural, natural and urban landscapes. Over decades they also captured tradespeople, passers-by and cityscapes charting the development of the city through their street photography. They were active from the 1920s to the 1960s, a period of huge social change, and their cameras were witness to this.

Interior shot of the photography studio with a collection of studio lights and cameras of differing ages. — The Studio with equipment at The Hardmans' House, 59 Rodney Street, Liverpool | © National Trust Images/Arnhel de Serra

The End of an Era and a new future

In 1965, the Hardmans retired the photographic studio, but the house would always remain their home. Chambré continued to write about and teach photography well into the 1970s and their passion for the medium, particularly landscape photography, endured. Margaret died in 1970, and not long after Chambré’s health began to decline.

In 1979 following a fall, Social Services introduced Chambré to Peter Hagerty, then the Director of the Open Eye Gallery – a centre for photography in Liverpool. Peter realised the significance of the Hardmans as photographers, their house, the studio and the colossal photographic and archival collection amassed there. He established the E. Chambré Hardman Trust and after Chambré died in 1988, it worked tirelessly to preserve house and collection.

In 2003 the collection was gifted to the National Trust. The photographic and archive collection (in excess of 140,000 objects) was deposited at the Liverpool Record Office. Between 2019 and 2022, the ‘Hardmans Unpacked’ project saw 16,000 items conserved, 5000 catalogued and 4600 digitised. Work continues to increase our knowledge of the collection so it can be shared with audiences.