St George's Hall, Liverpool

The site of the hall was formerly occupied by the first Liverpool Infirmary from 1749 to 1824. Triennial music festivals were held in the city but there was no suitable hall to accommodate them. Following a public meeting in 1836 a company was formed to raise subscriptions for a hall in Liverpool to be used for the festivals, and for meetings, dinners and concerts. Shares were made available at £25 each and by January 1837 £23,350 () had been raised. In 1838 the foundation stone was laid to commemorate the coronation of Queen Victoria. By July more than eighty entries had been received, and the competition was won by Harvey Lonsdale Elmes, a London architect aged 25 years, the second prize went to George Alexander of London. The requirement was: :"There is to be accommodation in the main hall for 3000 persons; and there is also to be a concert room, capable of accommodating 1000 persons, applicable to other purposes such as lectures and smaller meetings....the cost of the building will be £35,000" The eventual cost of the building exceeded £300,000 The Crown Court moved to the new Law Courts in Derby Square in 1984. During the 2000s a major restoration of the hall took place costing £23m and it was officially reopened on 23 April 2007 by Prince Charles. ==Structure==

Plan The Great Hall (also known as the Concert Hall) is the largest room, rectangular in shape, and occupies the centre of the building with an organ on its north wall. Two long corridors flank the east and west walls of the Great Hall. To the north of the Concert Hall is the Civil Court and beyond this is the North Entrance Hall; above this, reached by two staircases, is the elliptical Small Concert Room. To the south of the Great Hall is the Crown Court, beyond this is the South Entrance Hall above which reached by two staircases is the Grand Jury Room. In the middle of the west front is the Law Library, to the north of this is the Vice-Chancellor's Court, to the south of the Law Library is the Sheriff's Court. The floor below consists of a cavernous basement with cells for prisoners along the west wall. Exterior The main entrance is in the centre of the east façade and is approached by a wide flight of steps. The south front has an octastyle portico (eight columns wide), two columns deep, on steps above a rusticated podium. On the south portico entablature is a classical Latin inscription using V where U would now be used, that reads ‘ARTIBVS LEGIBVS CONSILIIS LOCVM MVNICIPES CONSTITVERVNT ANNO DOMINI MDCCCXLI’ (For Arts, Law and Counsel the townspeople built this place in 1841). The tympanum in the pediment above the south portico once contained sculptures of Britannia enthroned at the centre protecting agriculture and the arts and offering an olive branch to the four quarters of the globe, carved by William Nicholl; The completed sculpture has the following written description: These sculptures were removed for safety's sake in 1950 (the sculptures having become unsafe due to erosion by atmospheric pollution), and subsequently lost, reputedly turned into hardcore. File:Lions (S), St George's Plateau.jpg|Two of the four lions designed by Cockerell, sculpted 1856 by W.G. Nicholl (moved to present position in 1864) File:lampholder1.JPG|Lampholder, eastern elevation, in the form of a Triton holding a Cornucopia, sculpted by W.G. Nicholl File:lampholder2.JPG|Lampholder, eastern elevation, in the form of a Nereid holding a Cornucopia, sculpted by W.G. Nicholl File:External door, St George's Hall, Liverpool.jpg|The door beneath the south portico Interior The main entrance crosses a corridor and leads into the Great Hall. This measures by and is high. The inspiration for the Great Hall are the Baths of Caracalla. The roof is a tunnel vault, built of hollow brick was designed by Robert Rawlinson completed 1849, it is carried on eight columns, in height, of polished red Cairngall granite, these reduce the span to , the spandrels contain allegorical plaster work angels, twelve in total, designed by Cockerell, representing fortitude, prudence, science, art, justice and temperance etc. The vault also decorated with plaster work by Cockerell, contains coffering, the centres of the main coffers have coat of arms of Liverpool, or the coats of arms of Lancashire or St George and the dragon, in the centre of the vault are the Royal Arms used by Queen Victoria this is above a matching coat of arms in the Minton floor. The walls have niches for statues. The highly decorated floor consists of Minton encaustic tile and it is usually covered by a removable floor to protect it. The stained glass in the semicircular windows at each end of the hall was added in 1883–84 by Forrest and Son of Liverpool. Sharples and Pollard regard this as "one of the greatest Victorian interiors". The Crown Court has a tunnel vault on red granite columns and the Civil Court a coved ceiling on grey granite columns. The South Entrance Hall is approached through the portico, is low and has Ionic columns. Below this is a larger vaulted space which was adapted to form a new entrance in 2003–05. The North Entrance Hall has Doric columns on its landing and a Doric ambulatory around the apse with two bronze Torchères by Messengers of Birmingham decorated with allegorical scenes, the apse contains stairs, unlike the other main entrances where the stairs are external. A copy in plaster of part of the Parthenon frieze runs round its walls. In the centre of the south wall is a marble statue of Henry Booth shown standing up, carved 1874 by William Theed the Younger, placed here in 1877, flanking the statue are sculptures of caryatids. File:Statue of Robert Peel, St George's Hall 2.jpg|Sir Robert Peel, sculpted 1854 by Matthew Noble File:Statue of William Roscoe, St George's Hall 2.jpg|William Roscoe, moved to the Hall from The Royal Institution, sculpted 1841 by Francis Leggatt Chantrey File:Statue of William Brown, St George's Hall 2.jpg|William Brown, sculpted 1860 by Patrick MacDowell File:Statue of Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby 1.jpg|14th Earl of Derby, sculpted 1869 by William Theed File:Statue of William Gladstone, St George's Hall 2.jpg|William Ewart Gladstone, sculpted 1869, by John Adams-Acton File:Statue of Samuel Robert Graves, St George's Hall 1.jpg|Samuel Robert Graves, sculpted 1875 by Giovanni Fontana File:St George's Hall, Liverpool internal statue (2).jpg|Edward Whitley, sculpted 1895 by Albert Bruce-Joy File:Statue of Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby, St George's Hall.jpg|16th Earl of Derby sculpted 1911 by F. W. Pomeroy File:St George's Hall, Liverpool internal statue (4).jpg|Rev. Jonathan Brooks sculpted 1858-59 by Benjamin Edward Spence File:Statue of George Stephenson, St George's Hall 1.jpg|George Stephenson, sculpted 1854 by John Gibson File:Statue of Hugh McNeile, St George's Hall 1.jpg|Hugh M‘Neile, sculpted 1871 by George Gammon Adams File:Statue of Joseph Mayer, St George's Hall 2.jpg|Joseph Mayer, sculpted 1869 by Giovanni Fontana File:Statue of Catherine Wilkinson, St George's Hall 1.jpg|Kitty Wilkinson, sculpted 2012 by Simon Smith The Small Concert Room designed by Charles Robert Cockerell and completed in 1856, is elliptical measuring by , when built it had a capacity for 1,100 people, the stage is by , and is lavishly decorated. In the past it was known as the Golden Concert Room. A balcony supported by caryatids runs round the room. At the back of the platform are attached columns, decorated with arabesques, supporting a frieze with griffins and between the columns are mirrors. It has seating for an audience of 480. Ventilation and heating of the building In the basement is part of a unique heating and ventilation system devised by Dr Boswell Reid. In 2005 the Heritage Group of the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers awarded its first Blue Plaque to St George's Hall recognising it as the World's First Air Conditioned Building. File:Ventilation Handle, 1851, at St. George's Hall, Liverpool, full.jpg|Ventilation Handle File:Central heating, St George's Hall.jpg|Part of the original central heating system File:Ventilation boiler, St Georges Hall.JPG|One of the Victorian boilers in the basement Assizes Until 1984 the Liverpool Assizes (later the Crown Court) were held in the courtroom at the southern end of St George's Hall. Notable cases heard include those of Florence Maybrick in 1889 and William Herbert Wallace in 1931. The court now often doubles for the Old Bailey in film and TV dramas. File:St Georges Hall Court Room.jpg|General view of Crown Court File:St George's Hall Interior 21 Dec 2009 (13).jpg|View of Crown Court from Judges point of view File:JUDGES QUARTERS AT ST GEORGES HALL CROWN COURT LIVERPOOL JAN 2013 (9615338593).jpg|Judge's chamber for Crown Court, entered from the door behind the judge's seat in the Crown Court ==Events held at the building==

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited St George's Hall on 9 October 1851, although complete externally work was still underway internally. The inaugural event opened by the mayor and borough council and was started on 18 September 1854, and was a three-day festival of music, followed on 22 September, with the British Association for the Advancement of Science holding the first of many meetings at the Hall. On 15 April 1857 a banquet for 800 people was held in honour of William Brown benefactor of Liverpool's museum and library. On 23 April 1864 a Fancy Dress ball was held in aid of St Ann 's Dispensary. The Small Concert Room it was regularly host to Charles Dickens, who held many of his readings there. A cross section of activities in the 1880s include 24 March 1886, evening concert in an aid of District Cotton Porters and Dock Labourers; 1 November 1886 Large Hall, benevolent fund Liverpool Operative Platerworkers' Association; 5 April 1887 'Special' Grand Jury Room. To exhibit the new and improved method of applying gas to high class cookery; 22 December 1888, Large Hall, People's concert, Messiah. On 15 March 1915 Lord Kitchener inspect 12,000 soldiers of the Liverpool Pals on St George's Plateau, by September 1914, more than 30,000 men had enlisted at St George's Hall. The Plateau has been associated with public rallies and gatherings, including events following the deaths of the Beatles members John Lennon and George Harrison, and the homecomings of Liverpool and Everton football teams after Cup Final victories. The opening of the European Capital of Culture celebrations in 2008 saw Ringo Starr play on the roof of the building to over 50,000 people. The Weeping Window sculpture was displayed at St George's Hall from 7 November 2015 to 17 January 2016, it was made from ceramic poppies from Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red. The commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster saw from 13 April 2019 nine banners hung from the front of St George's Hall, featuring the images of the 96 who lost their lives, along with the powerful words ‘Never Forgotten’ on the Monday morning 15 April 96 lanterns were lit on the steps of the Hall, and members of the public paid their respects and left tributes. The hall hosted the semi-final allocation draw for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 on 31 January 2023. ==Organ and organists==

, built 1851–55, enlarged 1931, the small statue on the top of the organ is music with her lyre. The platform supporting the organ, was designed by Cockerell. The Atlas figures flanking the platform, were sculpted by Edward Bowring Stephens The organ was built by Henry Willis and completed in 1855 with 100 speaking stops across four manual divisions (of non-standard compass, 63 notes GG to a) and pedals (30 notes). It comprised a total of 119 ranks of pipes, plus 10 couplers, 10 composition pedals, and 36 pistons to set combinations of stops. It was initially tuned to meantone temperament to the specification of S. S. Wesley but in 1867 W. T. Best, city organist, had it retuned to equal temperament. The organ was rebuilt in 1896 when the key action was changed from the Willis-Barker lever assisted tracker (i.e. pneumatic assisted mechanical) action to pneumatic action. Also the manual compass was changed to the now standard CC to c, 61 notes, making the bottom 5 pipes on every manual stop redundant. In 1979 it was given a general clean and overhaul by Henry Willis IV. The total number of registers, including 24 couplers, is 144. With 7,737 pipes, it was the largest organ in the country until a larger one was built at the Royal Albert Hall in 1871, after which an organ even larger than the one at the Royal Albert Hall was constructed at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, using over 10,000 pipes. Repairs were made to the organ as part of the restoration of the hall in 2000–2007, including replacement of the bellows leather. The organ is maintained by David Wells, Organ Builders. The first organist was W. T. Best (1826–97) who was appointed in 1855 and served until 1894. He was succeeded in 1896 by Dr Albert Lister Peace (1844–1912) who continued in the post until the year of his death. In 1913 Herbert Frederick Ellingford (1876–1966) was appointed organist. On 21 December 1940 the hall and its organ were damaged in an air-raid. It was not possible to obtain sufficient money to rebuild the organ until the 1950s. In 1954 Henry Willis & Sons were asked to undertake this project and Dr Caleb E. Jarvis (1903–1980) was its consultant. Dr Jarvis was appointed organist in 1957 and on his death in 1980 he was succeeded by Noel Rawsthorne (1929–2019), who had just retired as organist to the Anglican Cathedral. Noel Rawsthorne served as organist to the hall for four years. Following his retirement in 1984, Professor Ian Tracey, who is also Organist Titulaire of the Anglican Cathedral, was appointed to the post. ==St George's Plateau==

This is the flat space between the hall and the railway station and contains statues of four lions by Nicholl and cast iron lamp standards with dolphin bases. Also on the plateau are monuments, including equestrian bronzes of Prince Albert and Queen Victoria by Thomas Thornycroft, and a monument to Major-General William Earle by Birch. Between the equestrian statues is the Grade I Liverpool Cenotaph which was unveiled in 1930, designed by L. B. Budden and sculpted by H. Tyson Smith. It consists of a simple horizontal block with a bronze relief measuring over on each side. Sharples and Pollard regard it as one of the most remarkable war memorials in the country. ==Restoration==

Following the restoration leading to the reopening of the hall in April 2007 it was granted a Civic Trust Award. It included the creation of a Heritage Centre which gives an introduction to the hall and its history. Guided tours, a programme of exhibitions and talks are arranged. Over the Christmas periods of 2007 and 2008 an artificial skating rink was installed in the Concert Hall. In January 2008 Liverpool started its tenure as European Capital of Culture with the People's Opening at St George's Hall with a performance which included the Beatles' drummer Ringo Starr playing on its roof. The building has since been regularly used as a stage and backdrop for major civic and cultural events, from the city's Christmas Markets to the World War 1 tribute Weeping Window in 2015 and the Liverpool Giants in 2014 and 2018. ==As a filming location==

The exterior of St George's Hall has been used a filming location for several films and television series, including the BBC series Peaky Blinders and The War of the Worlds, the 1993 film In the Name of the Father, A 1987 advertisement for Coca-Cola was filmed inside the building. On 31 January 2023, St George's Hall hosted the semi-final allocation draw for the Eurovision Song Contest, which was held in Liverpool later in the year. The draw was broadcast live on BBC television and YouTube. ==Quotes about St George's Hall==

"This magnificent edifice will be a perennial monument of the energy and public spirit, in the nineteenth century, of the people of Liverpool; a place which of all the cities and towns in the British Empire is surpassed only by the metropolis in magnitude, wealth and importance; and which in the quick yet solid growth of its commercial greatness surpasses even the metropolis itself". The Illustrated London News 23 September 1854 "The combination of a magnificent interior with an even grander exterior, is an achievement of which ancient Rome itself could offer no parallel, for however splendid and well organised were the interiors of the great thermae, basilicas and other structures, we have nothing to show that the exteriors of their buildings ever reached the same level of coherence and dignity. Indeed, all the remains point in the other direction. Hence the real greatness of Elmes' achievement". Charles Herbert Reilly "The south end of St. George's Hall is quite conventional and rather resembles Donaldson's project for the Royal Exchange. Except for the superior proportions and the splendid pile of steps at the base (by Cockerell) - which rise however, much too abruptly from an exiguous terrace along St. John's Lane- this porticoed and pedimented facade is, in fact not very different from Tite's at the Exchange. The north end is not identical but has a semicircular projection housing the Concert Room in the first storey. The different treatment of the two ends hardly ever seen at once either from the east or west. The extreme severity of the rounded north end is quite out of accord with the new visual tastes of the Victorian Age for sharpened accents and complex rhythms. The podium below is barely broken by the simple frames of the two entrance doors (this is an error there are three doors at the north end); the parapet above is absolutely continuous and unornamented. Thus there is no central focus of interest and nothing to distract attention from the even half-circle of giant Corinthian columns. The unbroken length of the east portico is surmounted by an equally unbroken attic masking the vault of the main hall. Thus the effect is even more severe. Ranges of square pilasters, for two-thirds of their height, are used here along the side wings. Such pilasters also rise like an open screen in the projecting middle section of the west front. These novel members provide a very interesting kind of structural articulation recalling the more original aspects of Schinkel's Classicism as much as the long east portico does that of his more conventional Altes Museum. Though the tremendous scale of the composition is new to Britain, the spirit is still that of the classical rationalism which dominated the end of the 18th century. The great scale and general severity reflect the dreams of French architects like Ledoux and Boulée in the Revolutionary epoch, dreams that were codified by Durand in his ''Précis des leçons d'architecture données à l'École royale polytechnique'' (1802–05) and thus transmitted to a later generation. Behind and between the columnar and pseudo-columnar elements which dominate the facades the wall surfaces are rather flat. The relief of the various panels articulating these surfaces and that of the rare window frames is very low. Windows are completely suppressed on the south and the east fronts; the mouldings throughout, though large in size because of the tremendous scale, are extremely refined, cold and quite unornamented." Henry-Russell Hitchcock The following is about the Small Concert Hall: "Exquisite in color and covered with most elegant decoration in low relief, this room is above all a masterly exercise in the use of those 'shams' Camdenians most abominated. The balconies are of cast iron designed to look like some sort of woven wickerwork; of iron also are the pierced ventilating grilles along the front of the stage and in the ceiling panels around the central skylight. The delicate arabesques of the pilasters and friezes are papier-mâché. The graceful caryatids, seemingly sustaining the balcony on their fingertips, must be of iron or some synthetic composition; they were certainly never carved in stone. Whether these are themselves supports or whether the balcony is cantilevered on iron beams, the real construction is concealed. The wall panels not of wood but of plaster, supebly [sic] grained and varnished. Only the mirrors between the columns on the stage are what they seem; yet by a final paradox they create a faery unreality by their repeated reflection." Henry-Russell Hitchcock "Judging from his numerous perspective sketches, Elmes had the ability to rapidly design a building in perspective; not only did he prepare numerous sketches of the exterior, but also perspective views of the interior of the great loggia, and various other features. His full-size details, although Classic in spirit, are essentially modern in character; every suite of mouldings received due consideration as to its placing, and its ultimate relation to the scheme as a whole. Nothing could surpass the beauty of the Neo-Grec ornament selected for terminating the dominating attic. The whole building fulfils the highest canons of the academic style, and is unsurpassed by any other modern building in Europe. Albert Richardson ==See also==