AN ARCHITECTURAL WALKING TOUR OF LIVERPOOL

16 Cook Street is dated between 1864 and 1866 [1]1 it was designed by Peter Ellis, who is more famous for Oriel Chambers completed in 1864.  It is also an outstanding building but it has not received the same attention, criticism or praise as Ellis’ other city centre building.  The Grade II* Listed building,2 is constructed with a cast-iron frame and the front facade is carved stonework [2] which Sharples describes:

“The proportions are those of a warehouse (the central arch recalls a loading bay) but the building was designed as offices… There is an amazing amount of plate glass to stonework, so that the facade resembles one huge mullioned window.” 3

The amount of glass allows copious amounts of daylight into the building which Quentin Hughes explains is important to maximise in northern cites, where the streets are narrow so often clouds obscure the sun.4

 

Later Hughes describes 16 Cook Street’s front elevation:

“The facade, in spite of its large areas of glass, is less exciting than Oriel Chambers.  Its triple arched frame and flowing pediment seem to foreshadow Art Nouveau.” 5

Again comparisons are drawn to Oriel Chambers and they continue, the courtyard of 16 Cook Street also adopts the system of large panelled curtain glazing cantilevered from a thin frame.  However 16 Cook Street features a magnificent spiral staircase constructed of cast-iron and cantilevered from each floor.  It is visible from the internal courtyard space and is externally clad with glass. Hughes describes the importance of the courtyard: 

“This Cook Street building is also remarkable, mainly for its courtyard elevations.  The back has an exciting asymmetrical arrangement of windows, wall surface and chimney which seems to forestall the work of the English Free Architecture Movement of the 1900’s.  The long projecting windows in the court are similar to those on Oriel Chambers.” 6

 

Around the time of 16 Cook Street, considerations of fireproofing buildings was underway and on that matter Sharples and Stonard explain that Ellis yet again was ahead of his time: 

“Peter Ellis employed cast-iron instead of wood for the spiral staircase of 16 Cook Street in the mid-1860’s, and by the 1880’s cast-iron staircases were widely used.” 7

Liverpool Heritage Bureau seemed to believe that Ellis’ use of innovative and modern approaches may have been detrimental to his architectural career: 

“In its stripped aesthetic it is far in advance of its time, and Ellis would seem to have paid the penalty by receiving no further architectural commissions.  After this date he is recorded only as working as a civil engineer.” 8

This is an incorrect assumption as proven by Robert Ainsworth and Graham Jones, in chapters 10 and 11 of their book In the Footsteps of Peter Ellis. He actually designed a Welsh Baptist Chapel, six months after a negative review of Oriel Chambers published in The Porcupine, as well as subsequent other buildings.  He also did take an interest in engineering work, in the process inventing a new passenger lift.9

 

During the May Blitz of 1941 in the Second World War, Cook Street was hit by a bomb and most of the buildings on the road were destroyed [3].  Fortunately Peter Ellis’ 16 Cook Street building survived, Oriel Chambers was partially destroyed during the same attacks.10 

 

After discussing Oriel Chambers Sharples and Stonard state the lack of appreciation for Ellis in the British architectural press, but how he did influence the early American skyscrapers: 

“Ellis did design the equally unconventional 16 Cook Street, with a five-storey facade like one giant window, and more curtain-glazing at the rear.  Although he was unappreciated at home, there is an intriguing possibility that Ellis may have influenced the development of American high-rise offices.” 11

It is through one particular American architect that Ellis’ influence was recognised, John Wellborn Root.  Root’s father was a merchant in Atlanta (America) he sent his son to Merseyside for safety during the `american Civil War, at the age of 14 he attended St Mary’s Mount School which is thought to have been part of the existing St Mary's Collage in Crosby.  During this time Root befriended Ellis and took great interest in his work which influenced his architectural career.12

Referring to John Wellborn Root, Quentin Hughes explains the evidence of Peter Ellis’ influence: 

“Its design was so effective this brilliant American architect who, when he built some of the fine early skyscrapers in Chicago, incorporated Ellis’s ideas.  For example, in the Rookery, which he designed with this partner, Daniel Burnham, in 1885, he incorporated a glass and iron spiral staircase projecting from the building somewhat similar to the one on 16 Cook Street [4-5].” 13