The State Insurance Building is at 14 Dale Street,

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wi ...

, England. Half of the building was destroyed by bombing in the Second World War. Both its external architecture and its internal decoration are elaborate.

History

The building was constructed in 1906 to a design by Walter Aubrey Thomas, who also designed the

Royal Liver Building The Royal Liver Building is a Grade I listed building in Liverpool, England. It is located at the Pier Head and along with the neighbouring Cunard Building and Port of Liverpool Building is one of Liverpool's '' Three Graces'', which line the ...

and Tower Buildings. It was originally symmetrical about a central

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * Mi ...

, but the half of the building, the part extending towards North John Street, was destroyed by bombing in the Second World War. The building continues to be used as offices, with a restaurant on the ground floor. In the 1920s the downstairs of the building was used as a popular dance hall and venue. After the second World War it was closed and later reopened as a Debenhams department store. In the 1980s it transformed again into a popular night club and rave hot spot, using the open plan hall downstairs to set up a stage for live music, but later closed down again. It is now utilised only four times a year as a special event night club and rave venue which still holds the original marbled walls and gold painted ceiling.

Architecture

Exterior

Constructed in ashlar with columns of polished red

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

on the ground floor, the building has three bays. Its architectural style is described as "

flamboyant Gothic Flamboyant (from ) is a form of late Gothic architecture that developed in Europe in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance, from around 1375 to the mid-16th century. It is characterized by double curves forming flame-like shapes in the bar-tr ...

", and as "wiry, sinuous Gothic". The left hand bay has five storeys. Its ground floor contains a narrow doorway with an

ogee An ogee ( ) is the name given to objects, elements, and curves—often seen in architecture and building trades—that have been variously described as serpentine-, extended S-, or sigmoid-shaped. Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combinat ...

arch and

tracery Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support the ...

in the

spandrel A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame; between the tops of two adjacent arches or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fill ...

s. A stair turret rises above the doorway. The first floor contains a

balustraded A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its con ...

balcony over which is a triple-arched

canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an ...

. Above this are three storeys with ogee-headed windows containing tracery. The top storey is octagonal and is surmounted by a pierced

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...

. The other two bays have three storeys. The ground floor contains an ogee-headed doorway, wider than that in the left hand bay. The first and second floors have two two-light windows, and the third floor has two three-light windows. Between the second and third floors is a panel inscribed with the word "Insurance". Above the top storey is a

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

d attic containing two narrow round-headed windows with tracery above them. Between the bays are

fluted Fluting may refer to: *Fluting (architecture) * Fluting (firearms) * Fluting (geology) * Fluting (glacial) *Fluting (paper) Arts, entertainment, and media *Fluting on the Hump ''Fluting on the Hump'' is the first album by avant-garde band Kin ...

colonnettes.

Interior

Inside the building is a central courtyard with a glazed barrel vault. Around this are galleries with wooden balustrades. The ground floor rooms have ceilings decorated with plasterwork and supported by metal columns. Between the columns is blind arcading decorated with multi-coloured

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

. The arcades contain panels with circular plaster

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

s by Alfred R. Martin. The reliefs depict themes from traditional stories. In the former entrance hall are more reliefs, these depicting castles. The building is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...

as a designated Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

References

{{Liverpool B&S Grade II listed buildings in Liverpool Gothic Revival architecture in Merseyside Commercial buildings completed in 1906 1906 establishments in England

History

Architecture

Exterior

Interior

See also

References