Lennon and McCartney’s childhood homes listed
Houses in Liverpool where The Beatles wrote their early songs including Please, Please Me are given special status
The houses where John Lennon and Sir Paul McCartney grew up have been listed Grade II today by Heritage Minister John Penrose.
‘Mendips’, the 1930s semi-detached home where John Lennon lived for 17 years, and the terraced house in Forthlin Road where Sir Paul McCartney lived for nine years have been listed on the advice of English Heritage.
Both properties are currently owned and managed as visitor attractions by the National Trust.
“These houses, unremarkable from the outside, have been painstakingly preserved and restored so that visitors today can get a real sense of how life must have been for the group as they were starting up,” Mr Penrose said. “They certainly merit the extra protection from demolition and development that listing provides and will, I hope, continue to be places of pilgrimage for Beatles fans young and old for many years to come.”
Emily Gee, head of designation at English Heritage, added: “We are delighted that the Minister has listed these two evocative houses where Lennon and McCartney developed their talents and created The Beatles. Listing celebrates special interest and in the case of Mendips and 20 Forthlin Road, they possess extraordinary historic and cultural interest.”
In December 2010, the world-famous zebra crossing used on the cover of The Beatles album Abbey Road was also listed Grade II.
Applications to list the childhood homes of George Harrison and Ringo Starr were turned down as the houses had been altered and modernised and had little association with the group’s early development.