Ron's Place, Birkenhead: England's First Listed Outsider Art

Who was Ron Gittins?

Ronald Geoffrey Gittins was born in Birkenhead in 1939. He briefly attended the Laird School of Art, then worked in a range of jobs: as a printing cutter, in retail in Liverpool, and as a factory control officer in Bromborough. He was a keen reader of history and mythology, and a private, determined man.

In 1986 he rented the ground-floor flat of a Victorian semi-detached house on Silverdale Road in Oxton. He lived there for 33 years, until his death in September 2019, and spent much of that time turning it into a work of art.

What is inside Ron's Place?

Gittins treated every surface of the flat as a canvas. Inside you find:

• Huge sculpted fireplaces, built from bags of cement, including one shaped as a Minotaur's head and another as a lion.
• A Roman altar in the kitchen.
• Murals of women in Egyptian dress, classical scenes and underwater worlds.
• Rooms themed on ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, including a bedroom painted in the style of a Roman villa.
• A decorated bathroom ceiling and walls painted again and again over the years.

The full extent of the work only became widely known after his death.

Why was Ron's Place listed?

After his death, his family and a group of supporters campaigned to save the flat from being stripped. In December 2021 the Wirral Arts and Culture Community Land Trust was set up, the first arts-based community land trust in the UK, and on 1 March 2023 it bought the house at auction with help from a charitable donation.

On 19 March 2024, on the advice of Historic England, the government listed Ron's Place at Grade II. It was the first time an example of outsider art had been nationally listed in England. Historic England described it as a notable example of large-scale outsider art created outside the influence of the mainstream art world.

Is Ron Gittins an outsider artist?

He fits most definitions. Although he briefly went to art school, he worked alone, for himself, with no audience in mind and no connection to the art world, and he created a complete private world. The campaign to save his flat was based explicitly on the idea of outsider art, and visitors familiar with environments worldwide have compared it with the best of them.

Can you visit Ron's Place?

Ron's Place is a fragile, small domestic space looked after by a community trust, not a museum with regular opening hours. Visits are by arrangement or on special open days and events. Check the official Ron's Place website before you plan a trip, and never turn up unannounced at the house.

Why does Ron's Place matter?

Ron's Place shows that extraordinary outsider art can be found behind an ordinary British front door. Its listing also sets a precedent: for the first time, English heritage law has protected an outsider art environment because of its artistic value. Campaigners hope it will help save other environments in future.

Where to go next

Explore Britain's other visionary environments, or read about the British outsider artists.