AN ARCHITECTURAL WALKING TOUR OF LIVERPOOL

The next public space on the tour [1] is a hidden square to the rear of Liverpool’s Town Hall building, it was named Exchange Flags because of the historic trades that were carried out in the space. As explained in John Belchem’s book Liverpool 800: Chapter 4, Maritme Liverpool by Graeme J Milne: 

“From the early nineteenth century, Liverpool’s premier mercantile forum was Exchange Flags, the open square behind the Town Hall.”1

Today the square is often quiet and only used by people who are visiting one of the surrounding buildings or passing through - as it is en route to Old Hall Street, the business district and Moorfields train station.  

In the centre of Exchange Flags is the Nelson Monument [2], which is one of the oldest Nelson Monuments in the country.2 Designed by Matthew Cotes Wyatt (son of James Wyatt) in 1807-8, executed in bronze by Richard Westmacott.3  The monument was unveiled on 21 October 1813 on the eighth anniversary of Nelson’s death, it was moved to Exchange Flags in 1866.4 Liverpool has a monument of Admiral Nelson because he was responsible for reopening the waterways, this was of particular interest to Liverpool because the city’s main source of income was through trading of which the docks and sea are vitally important.5  The monument was the first public sculpture in Liverpool,6 and it has also been given Grade II Listed status.7

The monument consists of a solid cylindrical granite plinth, which was originally stone until it was moved in 1866, while the sculptural elements are cast in bronze.8 The four figures sitting in chains are often misinterpreted as slaves but they are actually depicting prisoners of war, a reference to the battles of Cape St Vincent, the Nile, Copenhagen and Trafalgar.  Another reference to the battles is the four crowns of which the fourth is being placed on Nelson’s Sword by the figure depicting Victory.9  Nelson is standing central on a cannon and a corpse, he is draped in a captured flag were a skeleton depicting Death is emerging and reaching out to touch Nelson.10  The inscription on the monument reads ‘England expects every man to do his duty’.  

What is interesting to note is that underneath Exchange Flags is an underground carpark constructed in the 1950’s,11 which was previously a warehouse.  The monument’s base is also providing ventilation for the level below ground [4] as Liverpool Heritage Bureau explain:

”The drum was designed as a ventilator shaft for the bonded warehouse of which Exchange Flags formed the roof.  These warehouses have now become a car park, but the monument still performs its necessary respiratory function.”12

Liverpool Town Hall encloses the south side of Exchange Flags, the ground floor was designed as an exchange and a space for trading while above were the municipal offices. Sharples explains:

”According to contemporary descriptions it was dark and confined, and the merchants preferred to transact business in the street outside.”13

Hughes also states this:

”It was square, constructed around a central court approached by an arcade passage so it could continue to function as an Exchange.  But merchants rarely went in, favouring the streets outside.”14

This is how the public space would come to be known for its exchanges, it was mainly a cotton exchange, visitors would notice the white ‘snow’ of cotton threads left behind from numerous samples throughout a trading day: 

“Such was the centrality of cotton to Liverpool that the merchants, ship owners and brokers of all sorts frequented the Flags to gather information and cultivate their business connections.  Indeed, it was the only such forum in Liverpool to be simply called the Exchange: all the more specialised exchanges were given their full names.”15

Other major exchanges in Liverpool were the Corn Exchange and the Produce Exchange, due to the nature of the importance of the Cotton Exchange it was referred to as simply ‘The Exchange’. Milne describes what would occur at exchanges:

“Exchanges had rules and traditions that offered traders some security and collective strength, as well as providing a place to read the foreign press and meet visitors with useful intelligence.  They also had a variety of working practices depending on the commodities being handled, and the sense of theatre that attracted periodic attention from journalist; in the main, though, they were closed worlds unknown to those outside the business.” 16

Exchange Flags is enclosed by the Exchange Buildings (Grade II Listed),17 similar to the Town Hall, todays buildings are the third generation. The first commercial buildings on the site were by John Foster senior and James Wyatt, 1803-8, a noble neo-classical quadrangle which echoed elements of Wyatt’s north portico extension at the Town Hall [4]. These buildings were replaced, 1864-7, with buildings designed by T.H. Wyatt in a French Renaissance style architecture [5]. Todays buildings were finished in 1955, initially they started in 1939 but construction was disrupted by the Second World War,  they are constructed with steel frames and faced in artificial stone, Sharples describes them as “lumpish and ill proportioned”.18 Hughes labels the most recent buildings “a monstrosity” and explains how the initial buildings were much more suited to the site:

“Where Wyatt’s design was in sympathy with the Town Hall as regards size, rhythm and proportion, the modern office block, with a continuous screen of reconstituted stone, wraps itself around what was once the dominating climax to Castle Street.  The dome of the Town Hall is dwarfed and made insignificant - the jewel is cheapened by its setting.” 19

Todays buildings are called Walker House and Horton House, they were originally named Derby House and Sefton House respectively.  They were renamed to commemorate Frederic John Walker and Max Horton and their efforts during the Battle of the Atlantic.20