Liverpool Town Hall

Liverpool Town Hall stands in High Street at its junction with Dale Street, Castle Street, and Water Street in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and described in the list as "one of the finest surviving 18th-century town halls". The authors of the Buildings of England 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 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. 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 building. 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. Above the building was a large square dome with a cupola.

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

thumb|left|Liverpool Town Hall in the 1820s|alt=A neoclassical building seen from an angle. It has two storeys and a dome on a high drum. A horse and cart pass in front of it and to the right of the hall is a covered wagon

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 1857 a telegraph wire was laid from the Observatory at Waterloo Dock to the Town Hall (at the suggestion of the Director of the Observatory, John Hartnup) with the intention of using 'galvanic current' to transmit a time signal from the 'normal clock' in the observatory to the turret clock in the dome of the Town Hall, so as to ensure that it displayed accurate time. This was achieved through an invention of a Mr R. L. Jones of Chester: by replacing the pendulum bob of the clock with a hollow electro-magnetic coil (in the manner of Bain's electric pendulum) and connecting it to the telegraph wire (which provided a regular pulse of current at one second intervals from the Observatory clock), the two clocks became synchronised; and so 'was seen the curious spectacle of a great clock with works nearly 100 years old keeping time with astronomical accuracy'. This was the first application of clock network technology to a large public clock; it was later applied to (among others) the clock in the Victoria Tower, and the two were thenceforth heard to strike the hour simultaneously. A new hour-striking clock, by William Rogers of Liverpool, was installed in 1887.

In 1881 an attempt to blow up the town hall by the Fenians was aborted. 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 of 1941; this was restored after the end of the Second World War. Further restoration was carried out between 1993 and 1995.

Architecture

thumb|North front with [[Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson|Nelson's monument in the foreground|alt= A Neoclassical building seen end-on. It has two storeys with a central colonnaded portico and the dome can be seen above the roof. In the foreground is an elaborate monument]]

Exterior

The town hall is built of stone with a slate roof and a lead dome. these statues have been moved from the Irish Houses of Parliament.

Interior

Ground floor

thumb|220px|Main staircase|alt=A red-carpeted staircase seen centrally from below with banisters on each side. At the top is a statue of a standing man wearing a toga and holding a scroll, and on each side are chandeliers on stands

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.

[[File:Liverpool Town Hall Encaustic Tiles Liverpool Arms and Moto.jpg|thumb|These encaustic tiles are on the ground floor of Liverpool Town Hall.

The Liverpool Motto is a quotation from Virgil and translates as 'God has given to us this leisure'.]] 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 murals 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). 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.

thumb|Town Hall Liverpool council chamberAt 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.

Upper floor

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! style="padding: 0 1px 0 1px; background:#ADD8E6" align="center" colspan="5"| Upper floor plan

| align="center" colspan="5"|330px|Liverpool Town Hall plan

|- style="font-size: 90%; padding-left: 5px; background: #ececec" align="left"

! width="3%" |

! width="1%" | A

! width="45%" | Central Reception Room

! width="1%" | B

! width="50%" | West Reception Room

|- style="font-size: 90%; padding-left: 25px; background: #fff;" align="left"

| C

| Dining Room

| D

| Large Ballroom

|- style="font-size: 90%; padding-left: 5px; background: #ececec;"

| E

| Small Ballroom

| F

| East Reception Room

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 chimneypiece with brass and cast iron fittings.

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"; Completing the circuit is the East Reception Room, similar in style to the West Reception Room.

Current use and surroundings

Liverpool City Council meets every seven weeks in the council chamber to conduct the business of the city. 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

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

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

</gallery>

References

Citations

Sources

External links

Virtual Tour of Liverpool Town Hall
Ballroom
Council Chamber
Rooftop Image from Liverpool Pictorial