Details
This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 14/11/2016
SJ 3489,
392-/30/10036
YORK STREET,
No. 12,
HENRY STREET,
No. 18
(Formerly listed as: HENRY STREET (south side) Nos. 14-18 (even) Includes: No.33 ARGYLE STREET.)
II
Former warehouse complex. Unoccupied at time of inspection (5/96). Now apartments. Late C19, the latest part dated 1884, now with minor C20 alterations. Dark brown brick, with red and blue brick detailing, and stone dressings, beneath Welsh slated and C20 corrugated roof coverings. L-shaped development of 2 or more phases, sited along 3 street frontages, and all of 4 storeys above basements.
HENRY STREET FRONT: symmetrical elevation, composed of two 3-bay gables arranged either side of a narrow, central bay with a diminutive gable. Between the 2 gables of the right-hand (west) end is a recessed loading bay with a shallow arched head. Within the recess are set pairs of metal doors, below which are metal beams at the front of the loading platforms. The recess is outlined in blue brick. Flanking the central bays are stacked window openings beneath brick arched heads. The wide gables are sub-divided by shallow buttresses each with a high level set-off. Each individual bay has a dentilled pointed arch to the head, a detail repeated in more elaborate form below a moulded stone coping at the head of each main gable. At the junction of the 2 main gables, ground floor doorways lead to winder staircases arranged back-to-back. Other parts of ground floor altered by later openings. The gables to the left hand (east) end are similarly detailed, but have no central loading bays. Each bay has 3 stacked window openings with shallow brick-arched heads, and sloping stone sills. At the left hand corner, a shallow, pointed-arch headed doorway with 4-panel door and overlight gives access to offices, latterly a shop. INTERIOR: Right hand section with wide shallow arched vaulting carried on iron flanged beams supported mid-span by cast-iron columns. Light section metal roofing system, with tension rods, raking struts and metal laths. Elsewhere, interiors not fully inspected, but evidence of alteration includes lattice-work floor beams carried on metal corbels set in side walls.
YORK STREET FRONT: 5-bay range at north end forms the return elevation of the Henry Street frontage and shares much of its detailing. It is
however not gabled, and includes a recessed central loading bay with metal double doors and a hoist set behind a shallow brick arch, itself below a gablet. Above this, a wide rectangular structure corbelled at the top, and with 2 window openings. South part of 9 bays of contrasting appearance, and constructed mainly of smooth red brick, with infill panels of dark brown brick between red brick pilasters. Symmetrical elevation, with bays 2 and 8 forming recessed loading bays. These are distinguished by gablets above the semi-circular arched head to the bays which are defined by rounded corners lined with red brick. There are metal double doors to each floor, and metal beams to the front of the loading platforms. The metal hoist covers at the arch heads are inscribed 'B.W. 1884'. Other bays with stacked window openings beneath shallow red brick arches. The brickwork to the top floor is gently corbelled outwards, and the pilasters defining the bays are absorbed into flush brickwork at their heads.
ARGYLE STREET FRONT: Asymmetrical elevation of 8 bays of unequal width, bays 2 and 5 being recessed loading bays beneath gablets, bays 1, 3, 4 and 6 being narrow bays, and bays 7 and 8 of full width. Ground floor doorways to bays 1 and 9, the former giving access to a staircase. Behind parapet at right hand (east ) side, a broad gable seemingly unconnected to the design of the present elevations. INTERIOR: not fully inspected but lower floors of timber construction.
HISTORY: this complex is located close to the site of the world's first enclosed dock (now Canning Place) and forms part of area of warehousing and associated housing, the street pattern of which was fully developed by 1810. This was the area of the earliest commercial development in relation to the development of the port of Liverpool, which had attained international significance by the mid-C19. The warehouse population of which this complex forms a part is of national significance, this example illustrating the fully-developed form of this building type, in which the functional detail of the buildings forms the basis for a conscious architectural treatment of the exterior, and within which a variety of structural systems are displayed.
Listing NGR: SJ3470689855
