Port Sunlight

We travelled to Port Sunlight near Liverpool to visit the Lady Lever Art Gallery, which contains a remarkable collection of Pre-Raphaelite paintings, and were pleasantly surprised to find the village an architectural and historic gem. Built by William Hesketh Lever in the 19th century for his soap factory workers and named after his famous Sunlight Soap, it has become a designated Conservation Area.

Lever employed nearly thirty different architects in his attempt to create an idyllic garden village. Of little less than one square mile, Port Sunlight is an oasis in the midst of industrialism even today, and the Ruabon red brick, Gothic windows, ornamental plasterwork, half-timbering and leaded glazing are still much in evidence.

A philosopher and philanthropist, as well as a prosperous industrialist, William Hesketh Lever fervently believed in the health and welfare, and thus efficiency, of his workforce, and unlike many of his contemporaries managed to realize his dream in the creation of Port Sunlight. No doubt his extensive travels around the world played some part in the housing and unique architecture of Port Sunlight.

Today residency is no longer restricted to Unilever employees.

Date of Our Last Visit: November 2003