Liverpool Town Hall stands in High Street at its junction with Dale Street, Castle Street, and Water Street 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 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. It 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 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 ...

, and described in the list as "one of the finest surviving 18th-century town halls". The authors of the ''

Buildings of England The Pevsner Architectural Guides are a series of guide books to the architecture of Great Britain and Ireland. Begun in the 1940s by the art historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, the 46 volumes of the original Buildings of England series were publish ...

'' series refer to its "magnificent scale", and consider it to be "probably the grandest ...suite of civic rooms in the country", and "an outstanding and complete example of late Georgian decoration". It is not an administrative building but a civic suite, Lord Mayor's parlour and Council chamber; local government administration is centred at the nearby Cunard Building. The town hall was built between 1749 and 1754 to a design by John Wood the Elder replacing an earlier town hall nearby. An extension to the north designed by

James Wyatt James Wyatt (3 August 1746 – 4 September 1813) was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the neoclassical and neo-Gothic styles. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1785 and was its president from 1805 to 1806. Early life W ...

was added in 1785. Following a fire in 1795 the hall was largely rebuilt and a dome designed by Wyatt was built. Minor alterations have subsequently been made. The streets surrounding its site have altered since its initiation, notably when viewed from Castle Street, the south-side, it appears as off-centre. This is because Water Street which ran to the junction with Dale Street, the west-east axis, was continuous and built up across the junction so that the town hall was not visible originally from that aspect. The structures were removed 150 years after this to expose the building from this position. The ground floor contains the city's Council Chamber and a Hall of Remembrance for the Liverpool servicemen killed in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The upper floor consists of a suite of lavishly decorated rooms which are used for a variety of events and functions. Conducted tours of the building are arranged for the general public and the hall is licensed for weddings.

History

The first recorded town hall in Liverpool was in 1515 and it was probably a

thatched Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...

building. and was located in the block bounded by High Street, Dale Street & Exchange Street East. It was replaced in 1673 by a building slightly to the south of the present town hall. This town hall stood on "pillars and arches of hewen stone" and under it was the

exchange Exchange may refer to: Physics *Gas exchange is the movement of oxygen and carbon dioxide molecules from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration. Places United States * Exchange, Indiana, an unincorporated community * ...

for merchants and traders to carry out their business. Building of the present town hall began in 1749 on a site slightly to the north of its predecessor; its

foundation stone The cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure. Over tim ...

was laid on 14 September. The architect was John Wood the Elder, who has been described as "one of the outstanding architects of the day". It was completed and opened in 1754. The ground floor acted as the exchange, and a council room and other offices were on the upper floor. The ground floor had a central

courtyard A courtyard or court is a circumscribed area, often surrounded by a building or complex, that is open to the sky. Courtyards are common elements in both Western and Eastern building patterns and have been used by both ancient and contemporary ...

surrounded by Doric

colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or cur ...

s but it was "dark and confined, and the merchants preferred to transact business in the street outside". Above the building was a large square dome with a

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, fro ...

. The town hall was bombarded by striking seamen during the 1775 Liverpool Seamen's Revolt. Town Hall Liverpool

The very last act of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

was when Captain Waddell walked up the steps of the town hall in November 1865 with a letter to present to the mayor surrendering his vessel, the CSS ''Shenandoah'', to the British government. Improvements began in 1785 with an extension to the north designed by James Wyatt. Buildings close to the west and north sides were demolished, and John Foster prepared plans for the west façade. In 1786 Wood's square dome was demolished and plans were made by Wyatt for a new dome over the central courtyard. In 1795, before the new dome was built, the hall was seriously damaged by a fire. Wyatt's north extension was not significantly damaged, but Wood's original building was gutted. The building was reconstructed and Wyatt's new dome was added. The work was supervised by Foster and completed in 1802. Under the dome the central courtyard was replaced with a hall containing a staircase. In 1811 a portico was added to the south side. The construction and decoration of the interior was completed by about 1820. In 1881 an attempt to blow up the town hall by the

Fenian The word ''Fenian'' () served as an umbrella term for the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and their affiliate in the United States, the Fenian Brotherhood, secret political organisations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries dedicated ...

s was aborted. In 1899–1900 the portico on the north face was rebuilt and extended, and the northern extension was enlarged to form a recess in the Council Chamber for the Lord Mayor's chair, this was the work of the borough surveyor

Thomas Shelmerdine Thomas Shelmerdine (1845–1921) was an English architect who was appointed to the post of City Surveyor of Liverpool in 1871 at the age of 26. He is the youngest person to have held that post. Shelmerdine was the architect of several buildin ...

. In 1921 a room on the ground floor was made into the Hall of Remembrance to commemorate the military men from Liverpool who died in the First World War. Part of the building was damaged in the

Liverpool Blitz The Liverpool Blitz was the heavy and sustained bombing of the English city of Liverpool and its surrounding area, during the Second World War by the German ''Luftwaffe''. Liverpool was the most heavily bombed area of the country, outside Lo ...

of 1941; this restored after the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. Further restoration was carried out between 1993 and 1995. Between 2014 and 2015 the exterior of the building was renovated as part of a £400,000 project. The work included repairing bomb damage from the 1941 Blitz and cleaning the sandstone from the effects of pollution.

Architecture

Exterior

The town hall is built of stone with a slate roof and a lead dome. Its plan consists of a rectangle with a portico extending to the south and Wyatt's rectangular extension to the north. The extension is slightly narrower than the rest of the building, and also has a projecting portico. The building has two storeys and a basement; the stonework of the basement and lower storey is rusticated. The south face, overlooking Castle Street, has nine bays. Its central three bays are occupied by the portico. This has three rounded arches on the ground floor, and four pairs of

Corinthian Corinthian or Corinthians may refer to: *Several Pauline epistles, books of the New Testament of the Bible: **First Epistle to the Corinthians **Second Epistle to the Corinthians **Third Epistle to the Corinthians (Orthodox) *A demonym relating to ...

columns in the upper storey surrounding a

balcony A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. Types The traditional Maltese balcony ...

. The east and west faces also have nine bays in the original part of the building, plus an additional three bays to the north on Wyatt's extension. The middle three bays of the nine original bays project slightly forward and are surmounted by a

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedim ...

. The roof of the north face is higher than that of the main building. This face has five bays, with a central portico of three bays. On its first floor are four pairs of Corinthian columns and standing on the roof above these are four statues dating from 1792 by Richard Westmacott; these statues have been moved from the

Irish Houses of Parliament Parliament House ( ga, Tithe na Parlaiminte) in Dublin, Ireland, was home to the Parliament of Ireland, and since 1803 has housed the Bank of Ireland. It was the world's first purpose-built bicameral parliament house. It is located at Colleg ...

. Above the upper storey windows on all faces are panels containing carvings, some of which relate to Liverpool's foreign trade. The dome stands on a high drum supported on Corinthian columns. Around the base of the dome are four clock faces, each of which is supported by a lion and unicorn. On the summit of the dome is a statue, representing

Minerva Minerva (; ett, Menrva) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Minerva is not a patron of violence such as Mars, but of strategic war. From the second century BC onward, the Rom ...

. It is high and was designed by

John Charles Felix Rossi John Charles Felix Rossi (8 March 1762 – 21 February 1839), often simply known as Charles Rossi, was an English sculptor. Life Early life and education Rossi was born on 8 March 1762 at Nottingham, where his father Ananso, an Italian from Si ...

Interior

Ground floor

The main door in the south face leads to the Vestibule or Entrance Hall. It has a floor of encaustic tiles which include depictions of the arms of Liverpool and the liver bird. Liverpool Town Hall Encaustic Tiles Liverpool Arms and Moto

Liverpool Town Hall Encaustic Tiles Liverpool Arms and Moto

The room is panelled and on the east side is a large wooden fireplace containing 17th century Flemish carvings. It has a groin-vaulted ceiling, and in the lunettes are

mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

s painted in 1909 by J.H. Amschewitz, depicting events in Liverpool's history; King John creating Liverpool a free port (west wall); Industry and Peace (North Wall); Liverpool the centre of commerce (east wall); Education and Progress (South wall).Pevsner' Pollard (2006), p289 Below these are brass tablets containing the names of the freemen of Liverpool. Also in the entrance hall are bardic chairs from the two Eisteddfods held in the city. Town Hall Liverpool council chamber

At the rear of the ground floor in Wyatt's extension is the Council Chamber. This has mahogany-panelled walls and can seat 160 people. Adjacent to the Council Chamber is the Hall of Remembrance. On its wall are panels bearing the names of the military men who lost their lives in the First World War, and eight murals painted by Frank O. Salisbury in 1923. In the centre of the ground floor is the Staircase Hall described in the ''Buildings of England'' series as "one of the great architectural spaces of Liverpool". A broad staircase rises between two pairs of Corinthian columns to a half-landing, and narrower flights climb from that on each side to the upper floor. On the ground floor on each side of the staircase are display cabinets holding the city's silver. On the half-landing is a statue of George Canning dated 1832 by

Francis Chantrey Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey (7 April 1781 – 25 November 1841) was an English sculptor. He became the leading portrait sculptor in Regency era Britain, producing busts and statues of many notable figures of the time. Chantrey's most notable w ...

, and hanging on the wall above this is a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II by Sir Edward Halliday. Liverpool-townhall-dome-int

Above the staircase the dome is carried by four

pendentive In architecture, a pendentive is a constructional device permitting the placing of a circular dome over a square room or of an elliptical dome over a rectangular room. The pendentives, which are triangular segments of a sphere, taper to point ...

s; it rises to a height of and its interior is

coffer A coffer (or coffering) in architecture is a series of sunken panels in the shape of a square, rectangle, or octagon in a ceiling, soffit or vault. A series of these sunken panels was often used as decoration for a ceiling or a vault, also ...

ed. Around the base of the dome is inscribed Liverpool's motto, "Deus Nobis Haec Otia Fecit", and in the pendentives are paintings dated 1902 by Charles Wellington Furse depicting scenes of dock labour.

Upper floor

All the rooms on this floor are designed for entertainment and they have connecting doors that allow for a complete circuit of the floor. The middle room on the south side of the building is the Central Reception Room. It has a circular ceiling with pendentives, and plasterwork in neoclassical style designed by Francesco Bernasconi. The room leads to the balcony overlooking Castle Street. A door to the right leads to the West Reception Room, with a segmented-vaulted ceiling; it contains a

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 ...

chimneypiece The fireplace mantel or mantelpiece, also known as a chimneypiece, originated in medieval times as a hood that projected over a fire grate to catch the smoke. The term has evolved to include the decorative framework around the fireplace, and ca ...

with

brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wit ...

and

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impur ...

fittings. This room leads to the Dining Room which occupies the west side of the building. It has been described as "the most sumptuous room in the building". Around the room are Corinthian pilasters. The plaster ceiling has moulded compartments and under these is a

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

decorated with

scrolls A scroll (from the Old French ''escroe'' or ''escroue''), also known as a roll, is a roll of papyrus, parchment, or paper containing writing. Structure A scroll is usually partitioned into pages, which are sometimes separate sheets of papy ...

urn An urn is a vase, often with a cover, with a typically narrowed neck above a rounded body and a footed pedestal. Describing a vessel as an "urn", as opposed to a vase or other terms, generally reflects its use rather than any particular shape or ...

s and crouching dogs. The roundels between the capitals of the pilasters contain paintings of pairs of cupids. The next room on the circuit is a small room which leads into the Large Ballroom. This occupies the whole of Wyatt's north extension and measures by ; the ceiling is high. Around the room are Corinthian pilasters and on each of the shorter walls is a massive mirror. In the south wall is a niche for musicians, over which is a coffered semi-dome; on each side of this is a white marble chimneypiece. Hanging from the ceiling are "three of the finest Georgian chandeliers in Europe"; each is high, contains 20,000 pieces of cut glass crystal, and weighs over one ton. They were made in Staffordshire in 1820. The floor is a

maple ''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since http ...

sprung dance floor. Most of the east side of the hall is occupied by the Small Ballroom, also known as the East Reception Room or Music Room. This room is surrounded by pilasters and at each end is a shallow

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an '' exedra''. ...

; the apse in the north wall has two niches for musicians. Suspended from the ceiling are three 19th century chandeliers. Completing the circuit is the East Reception Room, similar in style to the West Reception Room. The rooms contain a number of portraits; one of these is of James Maury, America's first

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...

Current use and surroundings

Liverpool City Council meets every seven weeks in the Council Chambers to conduct the business of the city. The town hall is open to the general public each month when conducted tours take place. The hall is licensed for weddings and, in addition to providing a venue for the ceremony, catering facilities can be supplied for a reception or a meal. Catering is also available for other events and functions. Council officers and their departments are based in the nearby Cunard Building. Immediately to the north of the town hall is a paved square known as Exchange Flags; this is surrounded on all sides by modern office buildings. In the square is the Nelson Monument, celebrating the achievements of Horatio Nelson. It is a Grade II* listed building and is the earliest surviving public monument in the city.

Gallery

File:Liverpool Town Hall 1907.PNG, Liverpool Town Hall in 1907, looking down Water Street, painting by J. Hamilton Hay File:Town Hall Liverpool dome.jpg, Dome with statue of

Britannia Britannia () is the national personification of Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used in classical antiquity, the Latin ''Britannia'' was the name variously applied to the British Isles, Great ...

File:Liverpool Exchange 1847.jpg, Liverpool Exchange and its members, 1847 File:Liverpool Town Hall 1.jpg, Entrance Hall File:Liverpool Town Hall Encaustic Tiles Liver Bird.jpg, These encaustic tiles are on the ground floor of Liverpool Town Hall File:Liverpool Town Hall 003.jpg, Encaustic tiles in the Entrance Hall File:Liverpool Town Hall, Hall of Remembrance, 16 April 2013 (5).jpg, Hall of Remembrance File:Liverpool Town Hall, Hall of Remembrance 2.jpg, Hall of Remembrance File:Liverpool Town Hall, Gents Toilets 16 April 2013.jpg, Gents toilets File:Liverpool Town Hall 4.jpg, Statue of George Canning 1832 by

Francis Leggatt Chantrey Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey (7 April 1781 – 25 November 1841) was an English sculptor. He became the leading portrait sculptor in Regency era Britain, producing busts and statues of many notable figures of the time. Chantrey's most notable w ...

File:Liverpool Town Hall 15.jpg, Central Reception Room File:Liverpool Town Hall 12.jpg, Niche in Central Reception Room File:Liverpool Town Hall 7.jpg, Small Ballroom File:Liverpool Town Hall 010.jpg, Large Ballroom File:Liverpool Town Hall 009.jpg, Orchestra balcony, Large Ballroom File:Liverpool Town Hall 10.jpg, Dining Room File:Liverpool Town Hall 11.jpg, Urn in the Dining Room

References

Citations Sources *

External links

Virtual Tour of Liverpool Town Hall

Ballroom

Council Chamber

Rooftop Image from Liverpool Pictorial
{{Liverpool B&S Town Hall Liverpool City Council Grade I listed government buildings City and town halls in Merseyside Government buildings completed in 1754 Government buildings completed in 1802 Government buildings with domes Tourist attractions in Liverpool Georgian architecture in England 1754 establishments in England