Gwalia "Sandfield Tower" - Liverpool - JacobKellyPhotography.co.uk

Sandfield Tower, also known as Gwalia, is a mid-19th-century Victorian villa built between 1851 and 1854 for merchant Joseph Edwards, whose trade links with South America helped shape the home’s grand design. Standing in what is now West Derby, the house became notable for its distinctive central tower and its position within the affluent Sandfield Park estate. After Edwards’s death in 1878, the property changed ownership several times before being purchased in 1931 by the Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist, which later built a new church on the site and left the original house vacant. From the late 20th century onward, Sandfield Tower fell into severe disrepair, suffering fire damage, structural collapse, and decades of neglect. Despite this decline, it remains a Grade II listed building and an important fragment of Liverpool’s Victorian heritage, with ongoing campaigns urging its rescue and restoration.