25 Upton Green - The Beatles George Harrison House
25 Upton Green - The Beatles George Harrison House
In 1958, guitarist George Harrison joined Paul McCartney and John Lennon in The Quarrymen. The 15 year old musician showed serious skill and the band met often to practice at George's parents' house.
This location at 25 Upton Green in Liverpool was host to some of the earliest rehearsals of the band which would become the Beatles. The Harrisons would move from the space in the early 60s, and it was offered up for rent before eventually being purchased by a Beatles fan.
This specimen is a selection of door frame which was removed from the house after the Harrisons' departure. It was kept stored in the attic and shared with Mini Museum by the home's current owner, Ken Lambert.
George Harrison's Childhood Home
Before The Beatles played for millions of viewers on The Ed Sullivan Show, the Lads from Liverpool put in thousands of hours in clubs and lounges across the UK, Germany, Sweden, and France. Before that, they were regulars at a very special venue: George Harrison's mother's house.
Even the Beatles got their start playing living room shows. In 1958, George joined the Quarrymen at age 15. Despite his youth, Paul and John were impressed by his guitar ability and his home at 25 Upton Green became the spot of many early rehearsals for the band. George's mother Louise was a fan of her son's musical pursuits and was more than happy to host the fledgling stars.
This specimen is a fragment of door frame from the house at 25 Upton Green. This material was removed from the house after the Harrisons left in 1962 and stored in the attic for years. It was aquired from the current owner of the house, Ken Lambert.
You can even stay there today as an AirBnB!
Each specimen is hand cut and may exhibit differences in color and texture. The specimen is enclosed in a handsome, glass-topped riker box case measuring 4 1/2" x 3 1/2". A small information card which serves as the authenticity statment is also included.
Want more Beatles? Complete your collection of classic rock history with our Cavern Club and Strawberry Field specimens below!
📸 Paul, John, and George playing at George's brother's wedding reception.
MORE ABOUT GEORGE HARRISON
A Couple boys from liverpool
The iconic moments from the Beatles’ decade-long career are forever imprinted upon the collective imagination, from their American debut on The Ed Sullivan Show to the madness of their final performance at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. But for all the stardom that would come with their careers, John, Paul, George, and Ringo had humble beginnings, growing up in post-war Liverpool.
Of the four Beatles, three grew up under fractious circumstances. Both Lennon and McCartney lost their mothers as teenagers, while Starr’s parents divorced when he was four. All four contended with the stress of growing up in working class families. But Harrison’s childhood was defined primarily by its normalcy, still facing the stresses of Liverpool life, but raised by a loving mother and father, the last of four children.
📸 George Harrison practicing in his home at Upton Green
The Quiet Beatle
George Harrison was born at home on February 25th, 1943 in Wavertree, Liverpool. He spent the first few years of his life in that loving but cramped townhouse. When he was six the family moved up in the world to a nicer council home in Speke, a planned community in Liverpool. However, Speke had its own problems, with conflicts among the many families moved into the neighborhood and the children growing up in the shadow of the Second World War.
Harrison was the third of the fab four to join what was then called the Quarrymen, Lennon and McCartney’s precursor to the Beatles. He was fifteen at the time, the youngest in the band, but beyond his obvious skill with the guitar, Harrison came with another benefit.
It was at Harrison’s home at 25 Upton Green that many of the early rehearsals took place. Harrison’s mother Louise was very supportive of her son’s pursuits, allowing the boys to practice at their home.
📸 George outside his childhood home
Becoming the Beatles
Although Harrison’s joining the group injected some life into the fledgling band, 1958 was a difficult time for the Quarrymen as they faced lineup changes and personal struggles. Skiffle, the folk genre they’d been playing, was quickly falling out of fashion, and the band struggled to land gigs.
It was Harrison who was able to secure the group a residency at the new Casbah Club in Liverpool where the band reformed, eventually renaming themselves the Beatles, and going on to their Hamburg years that established them as a serious rock group.
📸 The house interior today as seen in its rental listing
The home today
All the Beatles’ success can be traced back to those early rehearsals in Liverpool, many of them at Harrison’s home. The house was the site of the earliest moments in Beatles’ history, but after Harrison’s success with the band he made few trips back to Liverpool, feeling alienated from his origins.
The family moved from the home in 1962, where it then was rented out for forty years, before being purchased by a Beatles fan in 2014. Last year it passed hands again to Beatles aficionado, Ken Lambert, who’s opened the space up as an AirBnB.
Front of the Specimen Card
Back of the Specimen Card
Further Reading
Kozinn A. The Beatles. Phaidon; 1995.
MacFarlane T. The Music of George Harrison. Routledge; 2019.
Schaffner N. The Boys from Liverpool: John, Paul, George, Ringo. 1st ed. Methuen; 1980.
Sullivan, M. (2022, April 7). Hampton Beatles fan flips George Harrison's childhood Liverpool home to Airbnb. Seacoast Online. Retrieved November 21, 2022
Thomson G. George Harrison: Behind the Locked Door. Overlook Omnibus; 2015.