The Philharmonic Dining Rooms is a

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

at the corner of Hope Street and

Hardman Street Hardman Street is a prominent street located in Liverpool, England, forming part of the A5039 road. It connects Leece Street to the west and Myrtle Street to the east, serving as an important thoroughfare in Liverpool's city centre. The street ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, Merseyside, England, and stands diagonally opposite the

Liverpool Philharmonic Hall Liverpool Philharmonic Hall is a concert hall on Hope Street, Liverpool, Hope Street in Liverpool, England. It is the home of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society and is recorded in the National Heritage List f ...

. It is commonly known as ''The Phil''. 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, ...

as a designated Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

The public house was built in about 1898–1900 for the brewer Robert Cain. It was designed by Walter W. Thomas (not to be confused with Walter Aubrey Thomas the designer of 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 th ...

) and craftsmen from the School of Architecture and Applied Arts at University College (now the

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

), supervised by G. Hall Neale and Arthur Stratton.

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

performed at the Philharmonic when he was a young musician, and during an impromptu concert in 2018.

Architecture

Exterior

The building is constructed in

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

stone with a

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

roof in an "exuberant free style" of architecture. It has a combination of two and three storeys, with attics and cellar. There are ten

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

along Hope Street and three along Hardman Street. Its external features include a variety of windows, most with

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid sup ...

s, and some with elaborate

architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; , also called an epistyle; ) is the lintel or beam, typically made of wood or stone, that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can also apply to all sides, including the vertical members, ...

s, a two-storey

oriel window An oriel window is a form of bay window which protrudes from the main wall of a building but does not reach to the ground. Supported by corbels, bracket (architecture), brackets, or similar cantilevers, an oriel window generally projects from an ...

at the junction of the streets, stepped

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 ...

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 * Optical microscope#Objective turret (revolver or revolving nose piece), Objective turre ...

s with

ogee An ogee ( ) is an object, element, or curve—often seen in architecture and building trades—that has a serpentine- or extended S-shape (Sigmoid curve, sigmoid). Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combination of two semicircle, semicircula ...

domes, a balustraded

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a 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/brea ...

above the second storey, a serpentine balcony (also balustraded) above the main entrance in Hope Street, and a low

relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...

sculpture of musicians and musical instruments. The main entrance contains metal gates in

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

style, their design being attributed to H. Bloomfield Bare.

Interior

There are 5 floors in total, with the main bar interior decorated in musical themes that relate to the nearby concert hall. These decorations are executed on repoussé copper panels designed by Henry Bloomfield Bare and by Thomas Huson, plasterwork by C. J. Allen,

mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

s, and items in

mahogany Mahogany is a straight- grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus ''Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: Universit ...

and glass. Two of the smaller rooms are entitled ''

Brahms Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, often set within studied ye ...

'' and ''

Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic period. With a diverse body of work spanning more than six decades, he is considered to be one of the most pro ...

''. Of particular interest to visitors is the high quality of the gentlemen's

urinal A urinal (, ) is a sanitary plumbing fixture similar to a toilet, but for urination only. Urinals are often provided in men's public restrooms in Western countries (less so in Muslim countries). They are usually used in a standing position. ...

s, with pink-marble basins and pink imitation-marble urinal surrounds. File:Entrance of the Philharmonic Hotel.jpg,

gates in main entrance File:The Gents in The Philharmonic (5759407265).jpg, Rose-coloured imitation-marble urinals in the Philharmonic Dining Rooms File:The Philharmonic, Liverpool (5759405193).jpg, Interior view of the Philharmonic Dining Rooms

Appraisal

Pollard and Pevsner, in the ''

Buildings of England The ''Pevsner Architectural Guides'' are four series of guide books to the architecture of the British Isles. ''The Buildings of England'' series was begun in 1945 by the art historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, with its forty-six original volumes pub ...

'' series, state that it is the most richly decorated of Liverpool's

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

public houses, and that "it is of exceptional quality in national terms". The Grade I listing means that it is "of exceptional interest". Pye describes it as one of Liverpool's "architectural gems".

References

External links

{{commons category-inline, The Philharmonic Dining Rooms
Official website
Pubs in Liverpool Grade I listed buildings in Liverpool Art Nouveau architecture in Liverpool Art Nouveau restaurants Commercial buildings completed in 1900 Grade I listed pubs in England Hope Street, Liverpool 1900 establishments in England