Cross Keys House - “Turning the Place over” Artwork - Moorfields

Moorfields once had the world’s most talked about derelict building - when a former Yates’s Wine Lodge literally turned itself inside out. Turning the Place over was a temporary artwork conceived for Liverpool’s year as European Capital of Culture and saw a 26-tonne section of Cross Keys House fixed to a giant pivot.

It opened in May 2007 and was due to be exhibited only into 2008, but proved such a phenomenal draw that it kept turning until 2011. Its creator, artist Richard Wilson, has fond memories of the spectacle and said he hoped it could be switched back on or find a permanent home elsewhere. He told the ECHO: “I came up with the idea in 2004 or 5. I saw Lewis Biggs, director of the Liverpool Biennial and said ‘I’ve had this fantastic idea, it would be great to do it in Liverpool’.“I sent him my ideas and the next day he said ‘Get up to Liverpool and have a look for a building’!” he team settled on empty Cross Keys House, opposite Moorfields Station, because it was then owned by the council. It became a major part of Liverpool’s Capital of Culture public arts programme, stunning visitors and passers-by and become a star of YouTube even before it launched. Its revolving façade rested on a specially-designed giant rotator, acting as a huge opening and closing “window” to offer glimpses of the interior during its constant cycle in daylight hours. Turning the Place Over cost £450,000, with Liverpool Culture Company paying £150,000, and was described as “the most daring piece of public art ever commissioned in the UK”.