Royal Liver Building

Royal Liver Building
Royal Liver Building, Pier Head, Liverpool
Interactive map of the Royal Liver Building area
Alternative names
  • The Liver Building
  • Royal Liver Assurance Building
General information
TypeCommercial offices
Architectural styleEdwardian Baroque style
LocationPier Head, Liverpool, England, United Kingdom
Coordinates53°24′21″N 2°59′45″W / 53.4058°N 2.9958°W / 53.4058; -2.9958
Construction started1908
Completed1911
Cost£800,000
OwnerPrinces Group
Height
Architectural98.2 m (322 ft)[1]
Roof50.9 m (167 ft)
Technical details
Floor count13
Lifts/elevators12
Design and construction
ArchitectWalter Aubrey Thomas
Structural engineerL. G. Mouchel & Partners
Main contractorEdmund Nuttall Limited
Designations
Listed Building – Grade I
Official nameRoyal Liver Building
Designated12 July 1966
Reference no.1356370
Website
https://royalliverbuilding.co.uk
References
[2][3][4][5]

The Royal Liver Building /ˈlaɪvər/ 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 the city's waterfront. It was also part of Liverpool's formerly UNESCO-designated World Heritage Maritime Mercantile City.

Opened in 1911, the building was the purpose-built home of Royal Liver Assurance. The Royal Liver Building is one of the most recognisable landmarks in the city of Liverpool with its two fabled Liver birds, which watch over the city and the sea.

History

In 1907, Royal Liver Assurance was in need for larger premises and approved the construction of a new head office. The foundation stone was laid on 11 May 1908. The building was designed by Walter Aubrey Thomas in the Edwardian Baroque style and built by Edmund Nuttall Limited.[6] The building is an early example of a building constructed using reinforced concrete,[7] and given the building's radical design was considered by some to "be impossible to build".[8] The structural engineering advisor was L. G. Mouchel & Partners.[9] The building was officially opened by Lord Sheffield on 19 July 1911.[8][10]

In 1953, electronic chimes were installed to serve as a memorial to the members of Royal Liver Assurance who died during the two World Wars.[11]

The building remained the head office for Royal Liver Assurance until its merger with Royal London Group in 2011.[12]

In October 2016, the building was put up for sale for the first time in its history.[13] The owner instructed CBRE Group to list the sale with a guide price of more than £40m.[14] In February 2017, Luxembourg-based investment group, Corestate Capital, bought the building for £48 million along with Everton F.C. majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri. Moshiri planned to run Everton's affairs from the building and have his own office to include a view of the new stadium on Bramley Moore Dock.[15]

In 2019, as part of a larger repositioning of the building, a visitor attraction was opened giving the public the chance to tour the West Clock Tower of the building on a regular basis for the first time in its then 108 year history.[16][17]

The Liver Building was sold again in 2025, with long-term tenant Princes Group purchasing the building for £60 million.[18]

Description

The building overlooks the River Mersey from its waterfront location on the Pier Head and forms one of the 'Three Graces' along with the Port of Liverpool Building and the Cunard Building. It has ten storeys, including two in the roof.[19] An 18 ft (5.5 m) copper Liver bird stands on each clock tower, designed by Carl Bernard Bartels.[20]

The building is crowned by a pair of clock towers. The clocks were made by Gent and Co. of Leicester.[21] The clock faces are 7.6 m (25 ft) in diameter, larger than those of London's famous landmark, the Great Westminster Clock, holding the distinction of being the largest electronically driven clocks in the UK.[22] The four clock faces have no numerals, only facets indicating the 12 hours. These are disposed as three on the riverside tower, facing west/north/south, the remaining one on the landward tower facing east. There is only one mechanism driving the faces on both of the towers. They were originally named George clocks, because they were started at the precise time that King George V was crowned on 22 June 1911.[23]

Tenants

Tenants in the Royal Liver Building include:

  • The Royal Liver Building - Liverpool Mathew Street Music Festival 2006
  • Liver birds tower over Dale Street and the Town Hall
  • The Royal Liver Building, seen from the nearby Atlantic Tower
  • The riverside tower
  • One of the two Liver birds that sit atop each tower of the building
  • The Royal Liver Building is floodlit at night
  • Drone photo of one of the Liver birds on the Royal Liver Building, Liverpool

See also

References

  1. ^ "Royal Liver Building - The Skyscraper Center". www.skyscrapercenter.com. Retrieved 7 October 2025.
  2. ^ "Royal Liver Building". CVU Skyscraper Center.
  3. ^ "Emporis building ID 110844". Emporis. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016.
  4. ^ "Royal Liver Building". SkyscraperPage.
  5. ^ Royal Liver Building at Structurae
  6. ^ "Sir Nicholas Nuttall – obituary". liverpooldailypost.co.uk. 9 August 2007. Archived from the original on 23 November 2008.
  7. ^ Hughes, Quentin (1999). Liverpool: City of Architecture. The Bluecoat Press.
  8. ^ a b "Rapid Growth 1886-1913". Royal Liver Group. Archived from the original on 21 November 2008. Retrieved 29 September 2008.
  9. ^ "Our history". Mouchel. Archived from the original on 16 March 2014.
  10. ^ Ley, A. J. (2000). A History of Building Control in England and Wales 1840-1990. RICS Books. p. 73. ISBN 0854066721.
  11. ^ Hughes, Lorna (20 April 2016). "Have you noticed something different about Liverpool's Liver Building this week?". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 7 October 2025.
  12. ^ "Royal London agrees asset transfer terms with Royal Liver". Professional Pensions. 12 April 2011. Retrieved 7 July 2025.
  13. ^ "Liverpool's Royal Liver building is put up for sale". BBC News. 17 October 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
  14. ^ Dunn, Connor (17 October 2016). "The Royal Liver Building to be put on sale for the first time in its history". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
  15. ^ Houghton, Alistair (8 February 2017). "The Royal Liver Building sold for £48 million". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  16. ^ "Here's when the new Liver Building attraction, RLB360 will open". The Guide Liverpool. 28 March 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2025.
  17. ^ "Royal Liver Building 360 Tower Tours and Visitor Experience Liverpool". Royal Liver Building. Archived from the original on 9 December 2023. Retrieved 7 October 2025.
  18. ^ Burnell, Paul (24 July 2025). "City landmark building sold for £60m". BBC News. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  19. ^ Pevsner, Nikolaus (1969). The Buildings of England: South Lancashire (1st ed.). London: Penguin Books. p. 175.
  20. ^ Wainwright, Martin (12 July 2011). "Liver bird sculptor rehabilitated by city that tried to forget". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 October 2025.
  21. ^ "The story of the Royal Liver Building and the people who shaped the organisation behind it" (PDF). Friends of Royal Lyver. p. 9. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
  22. ^ "Port Cities: The Royal Liver Building". E. Chambré Hardman Archive. Archived from the original on 29 January 2008. Retrieved 1 February 2008.
  23. ^ "Coast Walk: Stage 4". BBC Liverpool. 21 July 2005. Retrieved 1 February 2008.
  24. ^ "New AI hub opens northern base in Liverpool's Liver Building". BBC News. 1 May 2025. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
  25. ^ "ITV". itv.com.
  26. ^ McDonough, Tony (13 January 2015). "Liverpool food group Princes sees profits up by £8m as it takes total control of Napolina". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
  27. ^ "Home". Publiship. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
  28. ^ O’Keeffe, Greg (4 May 2017). "Everton's next sponsor to move European HQ to Liverpool waterfront". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Royal Liver Building.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.