Opening in 1853, the reservoir provided fresh water to the rapidly growing city of Liverpool. This was especially important given the prevalence of
cholera at the time. The reservoir's height above parts of the city meant that it also provided a head of water for fighting fires at the
city's docks. Capable of holding approximately 2 million gallons, it was fed with fresh water from
Rivington Pike in the West Pennine Moors and a spring in the Lodge Lane area of Liverpool. The building served as a reservoir for 140 years before its closure in 1997. It was given Grade II listed building status in June 1985. After a period of being left unused, the building has been used as a community space and events venue. It is not normally open to visitors, but there is an annual Heritage Day Open Event that allows people to see inside. The building has proven useful as a location for filming, and has been used in
Peaky Blinders. As part of
Liverpool's Biennual celebrations in 2016, the building was used as an art installation for a piece by
Rita McBride, called
Portal. In 2018 it was again used for an installation, called
AURORA. ==Architecture==