AN ARCHITECTURAL WALKING TOUR OF LIVERPOOL

References

1. Liverpool Heritage Bureau, Buildings of Liverpool, p. 24.

2. Steve Binns MBE, Liverpool Town Hall Tour, Appendix C, lines 86-89.

3. J. Sharples, Liverpool (Pevsner Architectural Guides), p. 42.

4. RIBA City Tour, Gateway to the World, Appendix D, lines 327-328.

5. Q. Hughes, Seaport: Architecture & Townscape in Liverpool, p. 79.

6. J. Sharples, Liverpool (Pevsner Architectural Guides), pp. 42-43.

7. Q. Hughes, Seaport: Architecture & Townscape in Liverpool, p. 79.

8. C.H. Reilly, Some Liverpool Streets and Buildings in 1921, p. 33.

9. C.H. Reilly, Some Liverpool Streets and Buildings in 1921, pp. 36-37.

10. Q. Hughes, Liverpool: City of Architecture, p. 25.

11. Steve Binns MBE, Liverpool Town Hall Tour, Appendix C, lines 92-94.

12. Q. Hughes, Seaport: Architecture & Townscape in Liverpool, pp. 79-80.

13. J. Sharples, Liverpool (Pevsner Architectural Guides), p. 43.

14. J. Sharples, Liverpool (Pevsner Architectural Guides), p. 44.

15. Steve Binns MBE, Liverpool Town Hall Tour, Appendix C, lines 94-104.

16. Q. Hughes, Seaport: Architecture & Townscape in Liverpool, p. 80.

17. J. Sharples, Liverpool (Pevsner Architectural Guides), p. 45.

18. RIBA City Tour, Gateway to the World, Appendix D, lines 338-342.

19. Q. Hughes, Liverpool: City of Architecture, p. 25.

20. Q. Hughes, Seaport: Architecture & Townscape in Liverpool, p. 81.

The Liverpool Town Hall [1] is a Grade I Listed building and is the city’s third Town Hall, it was designed by John Wood of Bath and construction was finished in 1754.1 The total cost of the building then was £1,100 and the architect was commissioned by Sarah Clayton (the businesswoman whom Clayton Square is named after).2 The building has a complicated history with multiple architects and developments.3

The first Liverpool Town Hall was built in 1616 it was comparable to a thatched hut, it later  collapsed due to insufficient support form the foundations.4

Liverpool’s second Town Hall was a more significant building, constructed in 1673.  At ground floor level there was an open colonnade were merchants would meet to discuss business transactions; later known as the Exchange it lends its name to the open space behind todays Town Hall (Exchange Flags).  The first floor consisted of a main hall, unfortunately similar to its predecessor it also collapsed after seventy years because of structural failings.5

In 1747 the Council started negotiations to purchase the site that the Town Hall sits upon today and in 1749 architect John Wood’s design for the building was approved.  Wood was appointed by Liverpool business woman Sarah Clayton, six years prior to this Wood had completed the Bristol Exchange which influenced Liverpool to commission one of the leading architects of the time. John Wood’s son (also named John Wood) would run the day to day business in Liverpool.6

The site of the Town Hall anchors one end of Castle Street, but it is unfortunate that the building is noticeably not central to the street opposite [2] as Quentin Hughes explains:

”The Town Hall lies at the northern end of Castle Street, were it joins Water Street and Dale Street, but due to expediencies of history it is to the west of the main axis of monumental Castle Street.” 7

One person who was particularly disgruntled by this fact was Charles Herbert Reilly (Head of the Liverpool School of Architecture, 1904-33) as he describes his disappointment:

“Castle Street is definitely closed and presided over at one end by the Town Hall and its dome.  That this is not quite central with the street is unfortunate, but it is sufficiently so, and the building, with its bold portico, is sufficiently strong to make one feel that the street is a definite approach to the Hall.” 8

Reilly mentions this again when discussing the over all quality of Castle Street, suggesting that if this problem was ever addressed and the street widened, it would unfortunately be the more preferred side of the street that would have to move.9

Hughes - “A classical gem of architecture closes the vista on Castle Street.  John Wood’s building was Liverpool’s third Town Hall, a graceful classical structure in stone.”10 The building was built between 1748 and 1754 and was originally attached to its neighbours on both the west and north sides, the town authority soon announced it was to extend and enlarge the building meaning detach it from the adjoining properties, which needed to be purchased beforehand. A process that took 38 years and by 1792 the buildings form had reached its pinnacle as it stands today.11 The 1754 building featured a central court which was approached by an arcade passage, allowing the space to function as an Exchange, however this was unsuccessful as the merchants would often prefer to transact outside the building.12 Sharples describes the elevations:

“Between the capitals on both fronts are panels of vigorous carving in high relief, mostly illustrating the foreign trade which was the source of Liverpool’s wealth.” 13

In 1792 John Foster senior designed the two new facades to match Wood’s original south and east elevations, the carved panels continued to illustrate the source of Liverpool's wealth, but there is no direct reference to the slave trade.  Foster was in the process of designing the extension when James Wyatt was called in to offer his opinions and draw up designs for the north side, later Wyatt’s designs for the north block and a new dome were adopted, Foster then supervised the building under the instruction of Wyatt.14

Steve Binns MBE (Liverpool City Historian) explains the initial extension and the cause of a fire in 1795 which completely gutted the building:

“When they extended the building originally it made the dome look very flat [3] as it was only about 60 ft high so they raised the dome by 40 ft, it was quite an operation but they did it.  Then they varnished the dome and they were quite pleased with it however they didn't have the science to know that they were constructing a dangerous building with hot spots, they used for their internal water supply hollowed out elm trees, rubbish collected between the two floors and if the temperature went above a certain figure which they didn't even know about the dome would go on fire.  It was a cold January morning in 1795 a fire started about 4.30 am in the morning by midday all they had left was the outside walls, and part of the extension it was then 25 years when Mr James Wyatt (the Prince Regent’s architect) and John Foster the town surveyor restored and completely rebuilt the building. and it was finally opened completely in 1820.15

During the extension in 1807 the noble portico of two storeys was added to the building on the Castle Street facade, Hughes states:

“that it would tend to diminish the heavy appearance which the cupola now gives this fine structure.” 16

Wyatt’s dome was a dominant feature of the Liverpool skyline when it was originally built but it is now overshadowed by its taller neighbours.17 The statue that crowns the dome is of Britannia [4] by J.C. Rossi it is sculpted from an artificial stone called code-stone, this type of stone does not disintegrate.18 

Upon describing the interior of the building Quentin Hughes suggests that it ‘merits a visit’ mentioning in particular the ‘gracious entrance hall, staircase [5] and state apartments’. The building has also since been restored to its most elegant of states.19 Hughes also explains that the current Exchange Buildings that currently surround the Town Hall do so with less consideration of the historic building than previous designs:

“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.” 20