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WHY NOT ALSO VISIT THESE PAGES |
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It takes people’s
breath away then, and it does the same today, although sadly, the building no
longer houses a bank. For a detailed look at some of the fantasy-filled
architecture and interior design work, see our feature THE LIVER BIRDS.
In 1982, and again
in 1992 (to commemorate the fiftieth and sixtieth anniversaries of the
building), BARCLAYS produces a booklet
describing how and by whom it was built, and at what cost. That story is
reproduced here, amongst pictures of Martins’ magnificent HEAD OFFICE…
Image © 1932 Stewart Bale Collection –
displayed under licence from Liverpool Museums
One of the great bank buildings…
In 1925, the old Bank of Liverpool building in Water Street was
proving quite inadequate to cope with the increasing business and the
Directors acquired two properties on a large island site opposite for £220,000. The site, roughly
rectangular in shape, is about 180 ft. in length and over 140 ft. in width.
It fronts on to Water Street, the principal thoroughfare leading up from the
river; while the east side faces Exchange Flags and overlooks the Town Hall.
On the other two sides, the site is bounded by comparatively narrow streets,
Rumford Street and Exchange Passage West. Designed on classical Roman lines
by Herbert J. Rowse, it forms a striking block with its facade reaching 150
ft. above ground level. The design was the result of a limited competition
between three London and three Liverpool architects. There were many
difficulties to overcome, including the problem of 'ancient lights', which
Mr. Rowse surmounted in such a way as to contribute greatly to the beauty of
the building by setting it back in successive planes at the levels of
neighbouring roofs.
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The
façade of 4 Water Street onto
Exchange Flags |
The
opulence of the banking hall has long been a talking point. Every
effort has been made to preserve its magnificence. |
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There are nine floors above ground level, plus a mezzanine and
three below, with foundations 50 ft. under the building. It is of fireproof,
steel-frame construction, with reinforced concrete floors and stairs. The
external walls are brick lined with hollow tiles and faced with Portland
stone from the St. Paul's and Wakeham quarries. Notable for its beauty and
for the fact that exposure to the atmosphere increases its whiteness, the
stone was stored and cut at William Moss's masonry works in Liverpool. Central Lighting
Court The new bank premises were designed around a large central
open-lighting court, which provides internal lighting to the various upper
floors. This well has received as much care as the exterior elevations, and
is faced with ivory glazed bricks decorated with terracotta and Lombardic
tile cornicing. At the base of the lighting court is the glazed roof that
provides light to the banking hall below through an ornamental lay-light.
This lay-light is at the level of the second floor and at a height of about
40 ft. above the banking hall floor. To all intents and purposes, the ground floor is one large room
with the high central portion, 90 x 56 ft., devoted to the main banking
activities. This fine lofty hall, unobstructed by columns, was made possible
by carrying the walls of the light well on a system of cantilevers. It is
surrounded by double-vaulted, Italian-style, colonnades of great beauty and
through which other halls are visible.
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Such is the
sheer size and grandeur of the main banking hall, that it is used by Martins
Bank for its annual
carol concert. These images are from
the concert held in December 1960 |
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In the centre of the
hall is the main public counter designed from purple Leventine, vert antico
and black marbles. The ornamental grille and other metalwork is of gold
bronze. Steps lead up to the banking hall from the main entrance at the top
of which is a war memorial comprising a wall inscription and a Roll of Honour in volume form, a fresh page of which is turned each
day. At the four corners of the hall are finely proportioned rotundas out of
which run the main staircases and lifts serving the upper part of the
building. The principal areas
on the ground floor are highly finished with decorative stones. Travertine
marble is employed as a wall lining in the rotundas, the main vestibule and
banking hall, while the supporting columns are made from travertine drums
threaded onto solid steel cores. The plaster work in the ceiling has been
picked out in brilliant colours of gold, emerald green and Indian red and the
marble floor is patterned with similar stones to those used for the banking
counter.
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Boardroom Suite The first floor was
occupied by the bank's administration offices and along the Water Street side
were the offices of the Chairman, the general manager and his assistant and
secretaries and the conference room. The remainder of the floors up to the
eighth were designed as tenantable office accommodation. The boardroom suite,
dining rooms and kitchen are located on the eighth, and a flat, originally
designed for the Chairman, on the ninth, commanding a fine view over the city
and the river. The remaining portions of the roof were laid out as garden
enclosed by colonnades which have the added benefit of hiding the
lift-machinery penthouses from view and actually improving the silhouette of
the building. The Boardroom is of
exceptional interest and, though the beamed walnut ceiling and marble chimney
piece are in character reminiscent of Renaissance Italy, the design and
decorations are most original. The ceiling is carved and painted in various
motifs redolent of the sea including Neptunes, dolphins, ships and mermaids,
with reds, greens and blues as the predominant colours. These alternate with
symbols of the LIVER BIRD and Grasshopper which together formed the COAT OF ARMS of Martins Bank. A carpet measuring 49 ft. x 19 ft. was
specially woven repeating the design on the floor and furnishings include a
fine horseshoe table made from solid walnut. At one end is a smaller chamber
designed as a committee room. The sculpture and
decoration of the building generally are intended to be indicative of the
fact that Liverpool derived her wealth largely from her association with the
sea. Friezes of crabs and lobsters, dolphins, sea shells and legendary sea
characters are displayed with coins and bills alongside the Bank's own
heraldry.
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From Bombs to Beatles, a Day in
the Life… 1939 (left)
Mr Charles Carter, a visiting inspector was one of the many volunteers who filled
sandbags to protect the Head Office building on the outbreak of war.
1964 (right)
Mr Jack Jones, the bank’s joiner, protecting windows against possible damage
by crowds who
welcomed the Beatles on arrival at Liverpool Town Hall for their Civic
Reception |
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Below Ground Level The bank vaults are
in the basement directly below the banking hall. It was here that a portion
of the gold of the Bank of England was transferred shortly after the outbreak
of war in 1939 when the threat of air attack and invasion made Liverpool seem
a safer place than London. Later on it was shipped to Canada. Below, in the
sub-basement, which has been excavated out of sandstone, are situated extensive
storerooms for the use of tenants renting offices in the building, and great
oil tanks for the central heating system, each holding 7,000 gallons. The
boiler house is under the sub-basement. The building contains
many original features. For example: the reinforced concrete floors have been
modified to house an under-floor duct system concealing power and telephone
cables. Heating is automatically controlled by a system of
thermostatically-operated panels embodied in the ceilings. Special
consideration has also been given to the arrangement of plumbing and there
are no visible pipes — even to the walls of the central lighting court.
A rotunda to the right of the main entrance Five Years to Build William Moss, who
were then based at Roscoe Street, Liverpool were the general contractors for
the building and, in addition to carrying out all the important aspects of
that undertaking, they were responsible for the foundations, Portland stone
and granite masonry, brickwork, reinforced concrete floors, strong rooms and the
standard joinery. It took nearly five years for this work to be completed. In submitting his
programme to the Bank's building committee in April, 1927, the architect put
forward eight tenders for demolition work on site. William Moss were not
awarded this contract since it was placed with the lowest tender of £16,777 while Moss
quoted £17,750. However, they were
successful in gaining the next three contracts as, in each case. Moss offered
the lowest tender. They were also very competitive on timing, another
important factor since Mr. Rowse was working to a strict schedule. The contracts for the
foundation work and stone masonry were both given to Moss at a meeting on 11
September, 1928, for £13,897 and £17,451 10s respectively. Their tender of £476,402
for the main superstructure was accepted on 22 January, 1929, although it was
the second lowest submitted to the Board. Savings Made As a matter of
interest, when the final accounts were produced, there was a saving on two of
the contracts awarded to Moss. Namely, £131 16s for the foundations and £5,367 Os 5d for the structural
steel. There was an additional charge of £426 2s 11d on the excavation work.
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Before and After 1960 The building undergoes its
first major clean since being built
Since Completion A number of
alterations have, of necessity, had to be made to the building since it was
completed. However, all the work that has been carried out has been to the
same high standard as the original and, wherever possible, matching materials
have been used. Major alterations have included changing the boilers to gas
fired operations (retaining the ability to use oil in an emergency), the
strengthening of some of the underground strong room areas prior to the last
war and, with the need to improve security, the ornamental gold/bronze grille
surrounding the counter in the Banking Hall has been replaced by a glass
bandit screen. Externally, the walls were washed down in the 1970's to remove
the accumulated grime.
Acknowledgements: Barclays and The
William Moss Group
2017: Eighty-five
years, and still going?
Eighty-five years on, and in 2017,
some ten years after serving the last customer at the counter, the future for
Martins’ magnificent Head Office still seemed to be in the balance. On the
plus side, the internal time-warp of 1930s England means she is in demand
like never before for inclusion in film and television productions. From playing
herself in “The Bullion Boys” (1993), transforming into a post war London
Hotel for BBC TV’s “Close to the Enemy” (2016), to a Harry Potter-like bank
in J K Rowling’s “Fantastic Beasts and Where to
Find Them” (2016), 4 Water Street has brought a degree of reality to
productions, that re-creation by film set alone simply could not do. In the longer-term
plans for the conversion to a five-star hotel have now been on the table for
very long time, and whilst we are not holding our breath, we wish this
particular idea to have the strongest of wings, so that generations to come
can appreciate the splendour of this “fantastic beast” of a building,
and of course know “where to find her”… |
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