Liverpool Exchange was a railway station located in the city centre of Liverpool, England. Of the four terminus stations in the city, Exchange was the only not accessed via a tunnel.

The station was damaged during World War II and lost a proportion of the trainshed roof, which was never rebuilt. The station's long-distance services were switched to in the 1960s, and, as a terminus, the station became redundant in the late 1970s, when its remaining local services switched to the newly opened Merseyrail tunnels under Liverpool city centre. It was closed in 1977, being replaced by the new underground station nearby.

First station

thumb|Tithebarn Street as it was between opening in 1850 and 1859

The grandly-appointed station was jointly owned and operated by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) and East Lancashire Railway (ELR), it opened on 13 May 1850, replacing an earlier temporary terminus at a half-mile (0.8 km) further out of Liverpool. On opening it was described as being second in architectural effect to none in Liverpool, yet it has been completed in the short space of six months.

The other bridge was a large bridge close to the mouth of the Waterloo tunnel, this comprised seventeen cast-iron arched girders and had a span of at ground level.

The station had two names, as did its predecessor, because the joint owners could not agree on a name. The named the station Liverpool Exchange Station with the naming the station Liverpool Tithebarn Street.

The lines into the station were carried on a brick-built viaduct with several bridges over roads and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, the lines were above Tithebarn Street and the station itself rose to above the street so that it had to be approached by an inclined road, it was fronted by a balustraded terrace approached from below by an ornamental stairway.

The main two-storey building façade facing onto Tithebarn Street was long with two single-storey wings at right-angles each long, the occupying the western (Bixteth Street) side of the station and the having the eastern (Key Street) side. Each company had completely separate facilities with the exception that there was only one arrival platform which was located on the extreme eastern side. The were not happy about this arrangement as it meant trains shunting across their side of the station to get to their own side often causing delays to trains.

Each side of the station had booking offices, refreshment rooms, waiting rooms etc. each company having two departure platforms covered by iron and glass roofs designed and built by Fox, Henderson & Co. There was a carriage shed and an engine shed with a turntable at the station approaches.

From 1 October 1850, trains of the Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway (LC&SR), which was operated on their behalf by the , began to run into Exchange/Tithebarn Street station, so now there were three companies using the terminus. The became part of the on 14 June 1855. In all there were about 28 arrivals and departures each working day.

On 13 August 1859, the absorbed the , from which date the name of the station was Liverpool Exchange and from then it was worked as a single station of five platforms.

Second station

By the 1870s, the five platform station was struggling to cope with demand, in 1877 for example, there were 105 working day arrivals and departures, it became urgent to expand the station capacity.

Initially the sought to replace the station at the same height above street level, the lines still had to clear the canal and local streets. An act of Parliament giving approval was granted in 1875 and due to the difficulties in acquiring land in such a built-up area the powers were renewed in 1879. The company at this point decided to hold a design competition for the new station which attracted forty three entrants, the winner of which, John West, was announced on 3 August 1881. Detailed specifications were drawn up and tenders invited in early 1882, at which point a plan was submitted to build a station at street level. In July 1882 the company chief engineer, Sturges Meek, was asked to prepare new drawings for the station, and he instructed the newly-appointed company architect, Henry Shelmerdine, to design it and to include a hotel.

At the same time, Liverpool Corporation was concerned about the poor road system in the area, the council, railway and canal company came together and agreed to fill in Clarke's Basin at the end of the canal, building a new basin and warehouse for the canal company, allowing the road system to be improved by extending Pall Mall over part of the infill with some of the remaining land sold to the L&YR to enable a lower level approach and an expanded, rebuilt, station.

New powers were obtained in 1882 and 1883 to build the station at street level and lower the approach lines, the approaches were improved by building of a new four-track loop line which avoided and the awkward bends on the approach to the original station resulting from the imposed conditions to avoid the Borough gaol which had since been demolished.

The new station was built in two halves, the first half accessed by the new loop line was opened on 12 December 1886 and the 1850 station closed and demolished to provide the space for the second half of the new station. Two platforms of which opened on 23 February 1888 and the remainder on 2 July 1888.

There were ten platform faces each about long, platform 1 was at the eastern (Pall Mall) side of the station and was slightly shorter than the others. The platforms were protected by four longitudinal glazed gabled roofs, initially there were all the same length, the ones over platforms 1 to 5, for the longer distance services, survived until closure but the roofs over platforms 6 to 10 were shortened after being damaged during World War II, the roof work was completed in 1954.

thumb|Exchange station and hotel frontage in 2008

The hotel was designed by Henry Shelmadine, the land agent and architect.

The hotel frontage was in free renaissance style with columns dividing the windows, an intricately decorated iron porte cochère and a matching projecting clock. John Pearson. a former chairman of the , mayor of Liverpool and High Sheriff of Lancashire is commemorated by a bust in bas-relief.

In addition to the bedrooms the hotel provided private sitting-rooms, a ballroom and hair-dressing rooms, it had its kitchens sited on the top floor which created problems keeping food cool during the summers.

The hotel name was changed to Exchange Station Hotel on 11 January 1892.