Martin S
October 15th, 2010, 01:26 AM
There has been so much going on in the city in the lifetime of SSC, that it is easy for me to forget that I first got interested in redevelopment back in the 1960s, when a massive rebuilding of the city centre was in progress.
As a ten year old, I remember my uncle showing me the huge steel frame of the Littlewoods JM Centre (now the Plaza) under construction and taking me to see the giant model of the city centre when it was on display in the Walker Art Gallery, complete with Inner Motorway and other never realised marvels such as the huge apartment blocks planned for the back of James Street and Lord Street.
The Sixties were a time of unrestrained optimism, which was reflected in a ruthless desire to tear down the past and build a bright new future. That attitude was understandable. For some thirty years there had been little or no new development due to first the Thirties economic depression followed by the battering of the Second World War and then a decade and a half of post-war stagnation. Liverpool had a lot of smoke-blackened relics of the Victorian era but little to reflect modern aspirations.
The desire to build a new city meant that a large number of buildings from previous eras did not survive. We still mourn the loss of the Cotton Exchange, the Sailors Home and Central Station, that were swept away in the name of progress and I think for that reason, as much as any other, there has been a reaction against the buildings of the Sixties, which has seen many buildings of that decade meet an often untimely end.
Just as Sixties planners often failed to appreciate the value of Victorian era buildings, I think that we are prone to repeat the same mistakes by not valuing buildings of the Nineteen Sixties. Often that comes about because of a failure to appreciate what these buildings represent.
So, I've chosen ten Liverpool city centre buildings of the Sixties and have tried to explain why I think that they are worth a second look. One or two were not completed until the Seventies but I consider them to belong to the Sixties building boom.
No.1 Old Hall Street (Corner of Chapel Street and Old Hall Street)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/No1OHS.jpg
Buildings such as this had been built in Continental Europe between the wars but this was a fairly new departure for Britain and certainly for Liverpool.
It is a building that represents the Modern Movement of the post World War I era in that it is completely devoid of any ornament and uses an engineered frame to support the floors whilst the walls and windows are simply hung off the frame.
This building technique was not new in the Sixties, in fact the Three Graces and many of Liverpool's interwar buildings use steel or concrete frames. However, architects of those eras felt the need to provide massive masonry walls ornamented with columns and arches to give the impression of structural strength even though the frame did all of the work.
No.1 Old Hall Street shows that by the Sixties, architecture had caught up with engineering. The building demonstrates that with modern construction techniques, light and airy structures are possible, which is emphasised by the recessed lower story.
I believe that the original plan for this building was for it to be extended so as to front onto Fazakerly Street and Rumford Place. Of the existing buildings on the block, only Yorkshire House would remain. The building was built back to a new line, which was first adopted when Yorkshire House was built.
Silkhouse Court (Tithebarn Street)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/SilkHse.jpg
This fifteen story block built in the late Sixties was one of Liverpool's first 'skyscrapers'. Again, it shows the lightness of construction that can be achieved without masonry cladding and the only concession made to ornament in the building is the two indents on the Tithebarn Street elevation.
The lack of ornament was not seen as a way of saving money so much as cleansing the building of any pretentious add-ons that tried to conceal its simple function. It was the era when Mies Van der Rohe's dictum 'Less is More' was taken very seriously.
The need to get away from the formalism of the past often led to architects being very wary of symmetry, which was seen as belonging to traditional classical architecture. For that reason, entrances were often placed away from the centre of the building and not emphasised. Fortunately, the architect of Silkhouse Court placed the entrance slap bang middle of the Tithebarn Street elevation - just where you would expect it to be - and even provided a flight of steps.
Silkhouse Court is also interesting from an engineering point of view. The building was constructed right over the dock branch of the Mersey Tunnel. To avoid crushing the tunnel, bored piles were sunk either side of the branch with felt linings to prevent stressing the rock. The pilecap on which the building was constructed is two metres thick.
The Cotton Exchange (Old Hall Street)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/Cotton-1.jpg
Lovers of Liverpool's traditional architecture will never forgive this building as it's construction involved the demolition of the grand portico of the old Cotton Exchange, flanked by two towers. However regrettable that was, the replacement needs to be judged on its own merits and the Sixties building shows what can be done with precast concrete units. Again, the adoption of a frame construction with cladding panels has led to a very light and airy building which fits into the streetscape very well. The continuation of the structural frame above the final story is probably more a way of ornamenting the building, whilst pretending not to, than a structural requirement.
Internally, there is a courtyard with the same precast concrete units to the rear of the fronting block. Possibly as an apology for the demolition of the Cotton Exchange, some of the eroded statues from the facade have been retained.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/Cotton-2.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/Cotton-3.jpg
The Metro Tower (Old Hall Street)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/Metro.jpg
One of the later buildings of the Sixties building boom and not completed till the early Seventies. Whilst the building has no traditional ornament, the use of tiled fins emphasises the building's verticality and the combination of the angled fins and bronzed glazing reflects the setting sun when seen across the Mersey.
The location of the building on top of the Post and Echo printing works tends to diminish its impact but the recent addition of a glazed atrium has greatly improved the setting.
The Plaza (Old Hall Street - formerly Littlewoods JM Centre)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/Plaza.jpg
The most imposing of the Sixties office towers and, until the construction of the Beetham apartment towers, the building that denoted the northern edge of the city centre.
This building apparently resulted from the rejection of an earlier scheme for a thirty storey tower due to planners height limitations. However, the recent recladding and reconstruction of the ground floor has given this building a more comprehensible entrance arrangement and it is now one of the city's most sought after office locations.
State House (Corner of North John Street and Dale Street
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/State-2.jpg
At only ten storeys, State House is hardly a skyscraper but it does have a central Manhattan feel about it - possibly due to the set-back of the main tower.
The black granite cladding on the lift and stair tower emphasises the corner of the block whilst the lower podium aligns with adjacent buildings to continue the street line.
Possibly the least noticed feature of State House is the way that the setback of the tower allows views of both the Royal Insurance Building and the North John Street Mersey Tunnel Ventilation Tower - giving the lie to the idea that Sixties buildings did not respect their setting.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/State-1.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/State-3.jpg
Some of the fins on the lower podium block were designed to be removable to accommodate a walkway for the city walkway system.
The Atlantic Tower Hotel (Corner of Chapel Street and Newquay)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/Atlantic.jpg
One of the most popular of the Sixties building, the shape is often taken to represent the prow of a ship. It complements the gothic tower of St Nicholas to frame the entrance to Chapel Street.
As with State House and the Metro Tower, there is the use of a podium block with the tower set back from the road frontage, in contrast to the Unity office tower behind.
What this building really demonstrates is what can be achieved with new construction techniques. The central core of the tower was slip-formed and the floors cast at ground level, one on top of the other around this core. The floors were then jacked up to their final location and locked onto steel columns.
Both the shape of the tower and the articulation of the cladding give this building a timeless quality despite it being over forty years since construction.
Eight Water Street (Water Street opposite India Building)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/Ei8ht-1.jpg
Not an easy site to build any office building flanked by the historic Oriel Chambers and the Fifth Avenue magnificence of India Building.
However, without attempting to replicate the adjacent buildings, the architect has used precast concrete units to give a modern interpretation of the oriel windows that give Oriel Chambers its name. In so doing, it continues the pattern of fenestration that enlivens the street frontage of Water Street.
No doubt white concrete units were chosen as they are closest in appearance to the Portland Stone of India Building but, after forty years, some cleaning appears to be required.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/Ei8ht-3.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/Ei8ht-2.jpg
The above photo shows one of the least popular features of the building - the blank wall facing onto the car park behind the Pig and Whistle. After forty years, still nothing has been built there.
St John's Beacon (Houghton Street / St John's Precinct)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/Beacon.jpg
With the exception of the Metropolitan Cathedral, this has to be the most prominent Liverpool building of the Sixties.
Ostensibly built as the flue to the precinct heating system, the tower represented Liverpool's attempt to build a great modern landmark. The 'crows nest' once had a plush French restaurant, which revolved to give a full view of the city. This was closed as it was deemed a fire risk and for many years the tower was empty, until taken over as a radio station by Radio City in the late Nineties.
The alterations made to accommodate the radio station - principally the addition of an enclosed floor where the former observation deck had been - did improve the appearance of the tower but this was let down by the steel advertising hoarding frame, which appears now to have been unsuccessful.
The appearance of the tower probably never recovered from the decision made during construction to dispense with the 70' tall mast, which would have made it look less like a chimney. Maybe, a future reconstruction will put right that oversight.
The CN tower it isn't but St John's Beacon does illustrate the pioneering spirit of a lot of Sixties architecture.
The Playhouse Extension (Williamson Square)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/Phouse-1.jpg
Some of the best of Sixties architecture was fairly small scale and the Playhouse extension comes into that category. The intersecting drums of the extension with their glazed curtain walls have proved a more than fitting complement to the existing building and have benefitted from a recent restoration by the original architect.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/Phouse-2.jpg
This building demonstrates what can be done with reinforced concrete and how it allows structural forms unthinkable with traditional materials.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/Phouse-3.jpg
The circular form reflects not only the domes of the Playhouse but also the curved vehicle entrance to St John's Precinct (now removed) and, probably, the shape of the Beacon towering above.
So that's that. I would like to add more buildings to this list - the Metropolitan Cathedral is an obvious contender - but I think that the ones above show off a wide range of building types.
Not everyone is going to like buildings of the Sixties but my point is that they need to be valued along with buildings of all eras and not dismissed because of the particular architectural era that they represent.
Quite a few of the buildings I have shown would benefit from some fairly major restoration - but that is not uncommon in buildings that have been around for over forty years. What needs to be considered is that even the most expensive restoration is unlikely to cost a tenth of the cost of demolition and rebuilding.
They were built in days when environmental interest was not as keen as today and would benefit from double glazing, improved heating and air conditioning and better insulation - however, that is surely preferable to demolition and the loss of embedded energy.
One drawback of buildings of this era is that they lack headroom for the raised floors of modern computer based office systems. However, as we are now in the age of Wi-Fi, this is becoming less important.
If this were Central London, then many of the buildings built in the Sixties would have been replaced in the Eighties and those replacements may now have been replaced. That is possible, if not particularly environmentally friendly, when office space rentals are high. However, in Liverpool we have a stock of serviceable buildings that can be brought back into service. (Of course, many buildings of that era are still in use and attracting good rents).
I think the main thing though is to realise that many of the buildings of the Sixties are as good as those from any other era and begin to value them as we now valued Victorian and Georgian buildings.
As a ten year old, I remember my uncle showing me the huge steel frame of the Littlewoods JM Centre (now the Plaza) under construction and taking me to see the giant model of the city centre when it was on display in the Walker Art Gallery, complete with Inner Motorway and other never realised marvels such as the huge apartment blocks planned for the back of James Street and Lord Street.
The Sixties were a time of unrestrained optimism, which was reflected in a ruthless desire to tear down the past and build a bright new future. That attitude was understandable. For some thirty years there had been little or no new development due to first the Thirties economic depression followed by the battering of the Second World War and then a decade and a half of post-war stagnation. Liverpool had a lot of smoke-blackened relics of the Victorian era but little to reflect modern aspirations.
The desire to build a new city meant that a large number of buildings from previous eras did not survive. We still mourn the loss of the Cotton Exchange, the Sailors Home and Central Station, that were swept away in the name of progress and I think for that reason, as much as any other, there has been a reaction against the buildings of the Sixties, which has seen many buildings of that decade meet an often untimely end.
Just as Sixties planners often failed to appreciate the value of Victorian era buildings, I think that we are prone to repeat the same mistakes by not valuing buildings of the Nineteen Sixties. Often that comes about because of a failure to appreciate what these buildings represent.
So, I've chosen ten Liverpool city centre buildings of the Sixties and have tried to explain why I think that they are worth a second look. One or two were not completed until the Seventies but I consider them to belong to the Sixties building boom.
No.1 Old Hall Street (Corner of Chapel Street and Old Hall Street)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/No1OHS.jpg
Buildings such as this had been built in Continental Europe between the wars but this was a fairly new departure for Britain and certainly for Liverpool.
It is a building that represents the Modern Movement of the post World War I era in that it is completely devoid of any ornament and uses an engineered frame to support the floors whilst the walls and windows are simply hung off the frame.
This building technique was not new in the Sixties, in fact the Three Graces and many of Liverpool's interwar buildings use steel or concrete frames. However, architects of those eras felt the need to provide massive masonry walls ornamented with columns and arches to give the impression of structural strength even though the frame did all of the work.
No.1 Old Hall Street shows that by the Sixties, architecture had caught up with engineering. The building demonstrates that with modern construction techniques, light and airy structures are possible, which is emphasised by the recessed lower story.
I believe that the original plan for this building was for it to be extended so as to front onto Fazakerly Street and Rumford Place. Of the existing buildings on the block, only Yorkshire House would remain. The building was built back to a new line, which was first adopted when Yorkshire House was built.
Silkhouse Court (Tithebarn Street)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/SilkHse.jpg
This fifteen story block built in the late Sixties was one of Liverpool's first 'skyscrapers'. Again, it shows the lightness of construction that can be achieved without masonry cladding and the only concession made to ornament in the building is the two indents on the Tithebarn Street elevation.
The lack of ornament was not seen as a way of saving money so much as cleansing the building of any pretentious add-ons that tried to conceal its simple function. It was the era when Mies Van der Rohe's dictum 'Less is More' was taken very seriously.
The need to get away from the formalism of the past often led to architects being very wary of symmetry, which was seen as belonging to traditional classical architecture. For that reason, entrances were often placed away from the centre of the building and not emphasised. Fortunately, the architect of Silkhouse Court placed the entrance slap bang middle of the Tithebarn Street elevation - just where you would expect it to be - and even provided a flight of steps.
Silkhouse Court is also interesting from an engineering point of view. The building was constructed right over the dock branch of the Mersey Tunnel. To avoid crushing the tunnel, bored piles were sunk either side of the branch with felt linings to prevent stressing the rock. The pilecap on which the building was constructed is two metres thick.
The Cotton Exchange (Old Hall Street)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/Cotton-1.jpg
Lovers of Liverpool's traditional architecture will never forgive this building as it's construction involved the demolition of the grand portico of the old Cotton Exchange, flanked by two towers. However regrettable that was, the replacement needs to be judged on its own merits and the Sixties building shows what can be done with precast concrete units. Again, the adoption of a frame construction with cladding panels has led to a very light and airy building which fits into the streetscape very well. The continuation of the structural frame above the final story is probably more a way of ornamenting the building, whilst pretending not to, than a structural requirement.
Internally, there is a courtyard with the same precast concrete units to the rear of the fronting block. Possibly as an apology for the demolition of the Cotton Exchange, some of the eroded statues from the facade have been retained.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/Cotton-2.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/Cotton-3.jpg
The Metro Tower (Old Hall Street)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/Metro.jpg
One of the later buildings of the Sixties building boom and not completed till the early Seventies. Whilst the building has no traditional ornament, the use of tiled fins emphasises the building's verticality and the combination of the angled fins and bronzed glazing reflects the setting sun when seen across the Mersey.
The location of the building on top of the Post and Echo printing works tends to diminish its impact but the recent addition of a glazed atrium has greatly improved the setting.
The Plaza (Old Hall Street - formerly Littlewoods JM Centre)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/Plaza.jpg
The most imposing of the Sixties office towers and, until the construction of the Beetham apartment towers, the building that denoted the northern edge of the city centre.
This building apparently resulted from the rejection of an earlier scheme for a thirty storey tower due to planners height limitations. However, the recent recladding and reconstruction of the ground floor has given this building a more comprehensible entrance arrangement and it is now one of the city's most sought after office locations.
State House (Corner of North John Street and Dale Street
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/State-2.jpg
At only ten storeys, State House is hardly a skyscraper but it does have a central Manhattan feel about it - possibly due to the set-back of the main tower.
The black granite cladding on the lift and stair tower emphasises the corner of the block whilst the lower podium aligns with adjacent buildings to continue the street line.
Possibly the least noticed feature of State House is the way that the setback of the tower allows views of both the Royal Insurance Building and the North John Street Mersey Tunnel Ventilation Tower - giving the lie to the idea that Sixties buildings did not respect their setting.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/State-1.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/State-3.jpg
Some of the fins on the lower podium block were designed to be removable to accommodate a walkway for the city walkway system.
The Atlantic Tower Hotel (Corner of Chapel Street and Newquay)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/Atlantic.jpg
One of the most popular of the Sixties building, the shape is often taken to represent the prow of a ship. It complements the gothic tower of St Nicholas to frame the entrance to Chapel Street.
As with State House and the Metro Tower, there is the use of a podium block with the tower set back from the road frontage, in contrast to the Unity office tower behind.
What this building really demonstrates is what can be achieved with new construction techniques. The central core of the tower was slip-formed and the floors cast at ground level, one on top of the other around this core. The floors were then jacked up to their final location and locked onto steel columns.
Both the shape of the tower and the articulation of the cladding give this building a timeless quality despite it being over forty years since construction.
Eight Water Street (Water Street opposite India Building)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/Ei8ht-1.jpg
Not an easy site to build any office building flanked by the historic Oriel Chambers and the Fifth Avenue magnificence of India Building.
However, without attempting to replicate the adjacent buildings, the architect has used precast concrete units to give a modern interpretation of the oriel windows that give Oriel Chambers its name. In so doing, it continues the pattern of fenestration that enlivens the street frontage of Water Street.
No doubt white concrete units were chosen as they are closest in appearance to the Portland Stone of India Building but, after forty years, some cleaning appears to be required.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/Ei8ht-3.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/Ei8ht-2.jpg
The above photo shows one of the least popular features of the building - the blank wall facing onto the car park behind the Pig and Whistle. After forty years, still nothing has been built there.
St John's Beacon (Houghton Street / St John's Precinct)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/Beacon.jpg
With the exception of the Metropolitan Cathedral, this has to be the most prominent Liverpool building of the Sixties.
Ostensibly built as the flue to the precinct heating system, the tower represented Liverpool's attempt to build a great modern landmark. The 'crows nest' once had a plush French restaurant, which revolved to give a full view of the city. This was closed as it was deemed a fire risk and for many years the tower was empty, until taken over as a radio station by Radio City in the late Nineties.
The alterations made to accommodate the radio station - principally the addition of an enclosed floor where the former observation deck had been - did improve the appearance of the tower but this was let down by the steel advertising hoarding frame, which appears now to have been unsuccessful.
The appearance of the tower probably never recovered from the decision made during construction to dispense with the 70' tall mast, which would have made it look less like a chimney. Maybe, a future reconstruction will put right that oversight.
The CN tower it isn't but St John's Beacon does illustrate the pioneering spirit of a lot of Sixties architecture.
The Playhouse Extension (Williamson Square)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/Phouse-1.jpg
Some of the best of Sixties architecture was fairly small scale and the Playhouse extension comes into that category. The intersecting drums of the extension with their glazed curtain walls have proved a more than fitting complement to the existing building and have benefitted from a recent restoration by the original architect.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/Phouse-2.jpg
This building demonstrates what can be done with reinforced concrete and how it allows structural forms unthinkable with traditional materials.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Martin_S/Sixties%20Buildings/Phouse-3.jpg
The circular form reflects not only the domes of the Playhouse but also the curved vehicle entrance to St John's Precinct (now removed) and, probably, the shape of the Beacon towering above.
So that's that. I would like to add more buildings to this list - the Metropolitan Cathedral is an obvious contender - but I think that the ones above show off a wide range of building types.
Not everyone is going to like buildings of the Sixties but my point is that they need to be valued along with buildings of all eras and not dismissed because of the particular architectural era that they represent.
Quite a few of the buildings I have shown would benefit from some fairly major restoration - but that is not uncommon in buildings that have been around for over forty years. What needs to be considered is that even the most expensive restoration is unlikely to cost a tenth of the cost of demolition and rebuilding.
They were built in days when environmental interest was not as keen as today and would benefit from double glazing, improved heating and air conditioning and better insulation - however, that is surely preferable to demolition and the loss of embedded energy.
One drawback of buildings of this era is that they lack headroom for the raised floors of modern computer based office systems. However, as we are now in the age of Wi-Fi, this is becoming less important.
If this were Central London, then many of the buildings built in the Sixties would have been replaced in the Eighties and those replacements may now have been replaced. That is possible, if not particularly environmentally friendly, when office space rentals are high. However, in Liverpool we have a stock of serviceable buildings that can be brought back into service. (Of course, many buildings of that era are still in use and attracting good rents).
I think the main thing though is to realise that many of the buildings of the Sixties are as good as those from any other era and begin to value them as we now valued Victorian and Georgian buildings.