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The Royal Liver Building is a
Grade I 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 ...
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 ...
in
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 popul ...
, England. It is located at the
Pier Head The Pier Head (properly, George's Pier Head) is a riverside location in the city centre of Liverpool, England. It was part of the former Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City UNESCO World Heritage Site, which was inscribed in 2004, but revoked in ...
and along with the neighbouring
Cunard Building The Cunard Building is a Grade II* listed building in Liverpool, England. It is located at the Pier Head and along with the neighbouring Royal Liver Building and Port of Liverpool Building is one of Liverpool's ''Three Graces'', which line the ...
and
Port of Liverpool Building The Port of Liverpool Building (formerly Mersey Docks and Harbour Board Offices, more commonly known as the Dock Office) is a Grade II* listed building in Liverpool, England. It is located at the Pier Head and, along with the neighbouring Royal ...
is one of Liverpool's '' Three Graces'', which line the city's waterfront. It was also part of Liverpool's formerly
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
-designated
World Heritage A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
Maritime Mercantile City. Opened in 1911, the building was the purpose-built home of the
Royal Liver Assurance Royal Liver Assurance was a friendly society with over 1.7 million members in Republic of Ireland, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Subject to Financial Services Authority (FSA) approval, Royal Liver and its subsidiaries became part of the Roya ...
group, which had been set up in the city in 1850 to provide locals with assistance related to losing a wage-earning relative. One of the first buildings in the world to be built using
reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hig ...
, the Royal Liver Building stands at tall to the top of the spires, 103.7 metres (340feet) to the top of the birds and to the main roof. The Royal Liver Building is one of the most recognisable landmarks in the city of Liverpool with its two fabled
Liver Bird The liver bird is a mythical creature which is the symbol of the English city of Liverpool. It is normally represented as a cormorant, and appears as such on the city's arms, in which it bears a branch of laver seaweed in its beak as a furth ...
s which watch over the city and the sea. Legend has it that if these two birds were to fly away, the city would cease to exist. The Liver Birds are 5.5 metres,18 feet high. Their added height gives the Royal Liver Building an overall height of 103.7 metres, 340 feet. A building of skyscraper proportion, and once one of the tallest buildings in the country, the Royal Liver Building is currently the 4th tallest building in Liverpool.


History

In 1907, the Royal Liver Group had over 6,000 employees and given the need for larger premises the company approved the construction of a new head office. Designed by
Walter Aubrey Thomas Walter Aubrey Thomas (1864, Birkenhead, Cheshire – 1934, Wirral Peninsula, Wirral, Cheshire) (also known as Aubrey Thomas) was an English architect who practised from an office in Dale Street, Liverpool. For his training he was articled to the ...
, the foundation stone for the building was laid on 11 May 1908 and just 3 years later, on 19 July 1911, the building was officially opened by Lord Sheffield. The building is an early example of a building constructed using
reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hig ...
, and given the building's radical design was considered by some to "be impossible to build". During the early 1950s, the sixth floor was occupied and used by No 3 Movements Unit (Embarkation) of the
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
, overseeing and controlling the movement of RAF personnel and goods through the port. In 1953, electronic chimes were installed to serve as a memorial to the members of the
Royal Liver Friendly Society Royal Liver Assurance was a friendly society with over 1.7 million members in Ireland and the United Kingdom. Subject to Financial Services Authority (FSA) approval, Royal Liver and its subsidiaries became part of the Royal London Group on 1 ...
who died during the two World Wars. During hours of darkness, the clock dials are illuminated. The building remained the head office for
Royal Liver Assurance Royal Liver Assurance was a friendly society with over 1.7 million members in Republic of Ireland, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Subject to Financial Services Authority (FSA) approval, Royal Liver and its subsidiaries became part of the Roya ...
until its merger with
Royal London Group The Royal London Mutual Insurance Society Limited, along with its subsidiaries, is the largest mutual insurer in the United Kingdom, with Group funds under management of over £150 billion. Group businesses provide around nine million policie ...
in 2011. In October 2016, the building was put up for sale for the first time in its history. The owner instructed
CBRE Group CBRE Group, Inc. is an American commercial real estate services and investment firm. The abbreviation CBRE stands for Coldwell Banker Richard Ellis. It is the world's largest commercial real estate services and investment firm (based on 2021 reven ...
to list the sale with a guide price of more than £40m. In February 2017, Luxembourg-based investment group, Corestate Capital, bought the building for £48 million along with Everton F.C. majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri. Moshiri planned to run Everton's affairs from the building and have his own office to include a view of the new stadium on
Bramley Moore Dock Bramley-Moore Dock is a semi-reclaimed dock on the River Mersey in Liverpool, England, and part of the Port of Liverpool. The dock is located in the northern dock system in Liverpool's Vauxhall area, and is connected to Sandon Half Tide Dock ...
. In 2019, as part of a larger repositioning of the building, a visitor attraction was opened giving the public the chance to tour the West Clock Tower of the building on a regular basis for the first time in its then 108 year history. Previously this had only been open to the public during Heritage Open Days, which have been running during September each year since 1994.


Description

The building overlooks the
River Mersey The River Mersey () is in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it has formed part ...
from its waterfront location on the
Pier Head The Pier Head (properly, George's Pier Head) is a riverside location in the city centre of Liverpool, England. It was part of the former Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City UNESCO World Heritage Site, which was inscribed in 2004, but revoked in ...
and forms one of the 'Three Graces' along with the
Port of Liverpool Building The Port of Liverpool Building (formerly Mersey Docks and Harbour Board Offices, more commonly known as the Dock Office) is a Grade II* listed building in Liverpool, England. It is located at the Pier Head and, along with the neighbouring Royal ...
and the
Cunard Building The Cunard Building is a Grade II* listed building in Liverpool, England. It is located at the Pier Head and along with the neighbouring Royal Liver Building and Port of Liverpool Building is one of Liverpool's ''Three Graces'', which line the ...
. This is reflected in the building's Grade I
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 ...
status. It has 13 floors. The Liver birds are 5.5 metres,18 feet tall. Crowning, they give they give the skyscraper a height of 103.7 metres, 340 feet. More akin to the early tall American skyscrapers, the Royal Liver Building closely resembles
H. H. Richardson Henry Hobson Richardson, FAIA (September 29, 1838 – April 27, 1886) was an American architect, best known for his work in a style that became known as Richardsonian Romanesque. Along with Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, Richardson is one ...
's Allegheny Court House (built in 1884) and
Adler & Sullivan Adler & Sullivan was an architectural firm founded by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan in Chicago. Among its projects was the multi-purpose Auditorium Building in Chicago and the Wainwright Building skyscraper in St Louis. In 1883 Louis Sullivan was ...
's Schiller Theatre—with no definitive exterior styling but eclectic references to the Baroque and Byzantine. The building is crowned by a pair of
clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure which house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another buildi ...
s: as a ship passed along the river, mariners could tell the time from these. The clocks were made by Gent and Co. of Leicester. The clock faces are in diameter, larger than those of London's famous landmark, the Great Westminster Clock, holding the distinction of being the largest electronically driven clocks in the UK. The four clock faces have no numerals, only facets indicating the 12 hours. These are disposed as three on the riverside tower, facing west/north/south, the remaining one on the landward tower facing east. There is only one mechanism driving the faces on both of the towers. They were originally named George clocks, because they were started at the precise time that
King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Que ...
was crowned on 22 June 1911. Atop each tower stand the mythical
Liver Bird The liver bird is a mythical creature which is the symbol of the English city of Liverpool. It is normally represented as a cormorant, and appears as such on the city's arms, in which it bears a branch of laver seaweed in its beak as a furth ...
s, designed by
Carl Bernard Bartels Carl Bernard Bartels (1866 – 1955) was a sculptor. Bartels, a wood carver from Stuttgart, Germany, moved to Britain after visiting the country during his honeymoon in 1887. In the early years of the twentieth century, while living and wor ...
. The birds are named Bella and Bertie, looking to the sea and inland, respectively. Bella may possibly be named for
Isabella of Angoulême Isabella (french: Isabelle, ; c. 1186/ 1188 – 4 June 1246) was Queen of England from 1200 to 1216 as the second wife of King John, Countess of Angoulême in her own right from 1202 until her death in 1246, and Countess of La Marche from 122 ...
, the queen consort of King John, when Liverpool was granted its
royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, bu ...
. Bertie may possibly be named for
Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria an ...
(known as Bertie to the royal family) who was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland at the time of the building's construction. Popular legend has it that while one giant bird looks out over the city to protect its people, the other bird looks out to sea at the new sailors coming in to port. Alternatively, local legend states one Liver Bird is male, looking inland to see if the pubs are open, whilst the other is female, looking out to sea to see if there are any handsome sailors coming up the river. It is also said that, if one of the birds were to fly away the city of Liverpool would cease to exist, thus adding to the mystery of the birds. As a result, both birds are chained to the domes upon which they stand; although this could simply be because the originally gilded Liver birds, of a moulded and hammered copper construction (that is itself fixed onto a rolled-steel armature) are eighteen feet high, ten feet long and themselves carry in their beaks an intricately cast sprig of seaweed. Additionally, however, their heads are three-and-a-half feet long, their wing spread is twelve feet and their legs measure two feet in circumference. The two birds – officially
cormorants Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the IOC adopted a consensus taxonomy of seven gen ...
– have identical and almost traditional poses, standing upright with half-raised wings.


Tenants

There are currently over 19 tenants in the Royal Liver Building: * Amaze * Captivate Presentations * Crowd Mortgage * Tilney Bestinvest * Easirent * Epic New Media * Culture City *
Everton FC Everton Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Liverpool that competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club was a founder member of the Football League in 1888 and has compe ...
*
Grant Thornton Grant Thornton is the world's seventh-largest by revenue and sixth-largest by number of employees professional services network of independent accounting and consulting member firms which provide assurance, tax and advisory services to private ...
*
HSBC HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tri ...
*
ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
*
Mott MacDonald The Mott MacDonald Group is a consultancy headquartered in the United Kingdom. It employs 16,000 staff in 150 countries. Mott MacDonald is one of the largest employee-owned companies in the world. It was established in 1989 by the merger of M ...
* The Venue at the Royal Liver Building * Pershing *
Princes Group Princes Group is an international food and drink group involved in the manufacture, import and distribution of branded and customer own-brand products. Customers include major supermarkets, convenience stores, foodservice operators, wholesale su ...
* Publiship * Richard Hogg Lindley * SportPesa * USS * Royal Liver Building 360 – A visitor attraction based in the West Clock Tower * Liverpool Vaults & Liverpool Bullion


Gallery

Image:Royal Liver Building.jpg, The Royal Liver Building Image:liver building ap.jpg, The Royal Liver Building - Liverpool Mathew Street Music Festival 2006 Image:Royal Liver Building above Dale Street - Liverpool - 2005-06-27.jpg, Liver birds tower over Dale Street and the Town Hall Image:Royal Liver Building, Liverpool.jpg, The Royal Liver Building, seen from the nearby Atlantic Tower Image:Liver Building Tower.jpg, The riverside tower File:Liver Bird, Liverpool.jpg, One of the two Liver Birds that sit atop each tower of the building File:Royal Liver Buildings at Night.jpg, The Royal Liver Building is floodlit at night


See also

Architecture of Liverpool The architecture of Liverpool is rooted in the city's development into a major port of the British Empire.Hughes (1999), p10 It encompasses a variety of architectural styles of the past 300 years, while next to nothing remains of its medieval ...


Notes


References


External links

* {{Liverpool B&S Grade I listed buildings in Liverpool Grade I listed office buildings Buildings and structures completed in 1911 Art Nouveau architecture in Liverpool Art Nouveau commercial buildings