Ron's Place: Look inside rented flat made Grade II listed after secret emporium of amazing art discovered

The former rented flat is a treasure trove of ‘Outsider Art’ - including murals depicting historical scenes - which remained hidden for 30 years.

Transcript

00:00A hidden gem of outsider art, Ron's place in Birkenhead has been granted

00:05Grade 2 listing by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on the advice of

00:10Historic England. Ron died just before the lockdown and his niece discovered

00:16after he died when she came in she discovered this amazing emporium

00:22dedicated to Greek, Egyptian and Roman art that her uncle Ron had created.

00:27Concealed for over 30 years, Ron Gittins meticulously crafted a striking

00:33visionary environment which remained a secret until his death in 2019.

00:39What he created in this rental flat is quite amazing. You've got four stunning huge

00:44fireplaces, murals on every wall and almost every ceiling. He's painted

00:50the floors and yeah it's quite an amazing place really.

00:54The listing recognises Ron's creation as an exemplar of large-scale outsider art in England.

01:01Unfortunately we're not open yet. I know people are really

01:05invested in this project and they really really want to get in but it's really

01:10important right now that we protect what we've got.

01:13Following the flats discovery, Wirral Arts and Culture Community Land Trust was formed.

01:18The trust seeks to leverage Ron's place as an artistic haven to ignite

01:22creativity and empower local communities.

01:26The board that have bought the building through a lovely generous donation from a lady called

01:32Tamsin Wimhurst and her trust. They are encouraging people to get involved by

01:36paying a pound to become part of Wirral Arts and Culture Community Land Trust.

01:42An advisory board of experts has been assembled to support these goals.

01:46The next time that people can kind of interact with Ron's place is actually an event I'm

01:50organising which is Wirral Makefest and that's on the 1st of June at the

01:55Williamson Art Gallery and Birkenhead Central Library.