Tower Building is a

Grade II* listed 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, H ...

apartment block in

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 ...

, England. It stands with its longer front on the east side of the Strand, and extends round the corner into Water Street. The building is located directly opposite the Royal Liver Building, which was designed by the same architect, Walter Aubrey Thomas. The structure was originally designed for use as an office building, and is one of the earliest steel-framed buildings in England. It has been converted into apartments and units for commercial and retail use. Earlier buildings on the site have been a

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word ''manse'' originally defined a property l ...

, and a later fortified house known as the Tower of Liverpool. After this was demolished in 1819, it was replaced in 1846 by the first structure to be named Tower Building. Details of the current building's architecture reflect the earlier fortified building on the site.

History

The building stands on a historic site in the city. The first structure on the site had been a sandstone mansion, built in 1256 on the shore of the

River Mersey The River Mersey () is a major river 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 h ...

. Its first owner is not known, but by 1360 it was owned by Sir Robert Lathom. By the beginning of the 15th century it was owned by Sir John Stanley. In 1406 Sir John gained permission from King Henry IV to build a fortified house, which was named the Tower of Liverpool. The Stanley family later became the Earls of Derby. By 1737 the house was being leased from the Earl of Derby by Liverpool Corporation. In 1745 part of it was converted into a prison, and the upper rooms were used for civic functions. In 1774 the Corporation bought the building outright. A new prison was built on Great Howard Street, and the building ceased to be used for this purpose in 1811. It was demolished in 1819 to allow for the widening of Water Street. The site was used for a row of warehouses, until in 1846 the first structure to be known as Tower Building was built to a design by Sir James Picton. The present building was designed in 1906 by Walter Aubrey Thomas, and its construction was completed in 1910. Thomas also designed the Royal Liver Building. Tower Building was one of the first steel-framed buildings in England. In 2006 it was converted into apartments, and into units for commercial and retail use.

Architecture

Tower Building is constructed on a steel frame. It is clad in grey

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, 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 coo ...

, and faced with white glazed

terracotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...

made by Doulton. The Strand front has eight storeys and nine bays, the Water Street front has five storeys plus attics and three bays, and there is a curved bay on the corner. The bays are divided by polygonal

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. On each end of the Strand front is a two-storey tower, and above the central bay rises a three-storey tower. A balustrade runs along the top of the building and around the two lateral towers. At the corners of the towers are castellated turrets, which create a link with the former Tower of Liverpool. Tower 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, ...

as a designated

building.

References

External links

Tower Building website
{{Liverpool B&S Grade II* listed buildings in Liverpool

History

Architecture

See also

References

External links