New role for red-brick masterpiece

Jan 26 2008 by Peter Elson, Liverpool Daily Post

New role for red-brick masterpiece

Alfred Waterhouse

THE Liverpool-born architect Alfred Waterhouse, one of Britain’s greatest names, designed the Victoria building which created a precedent for the era’s expansion of higher education.

The building housed an administrative headquarters, library, Leggate lecture theatre, teaching and staff accommodation for the Arts Department and common rooms – all at a cost of £35,000.

The building’s projected cost spiralled from £35,000 to £54,000 because of extra fittings, especially electric light. It was officially opened on 13 December, 1892.

"The build spec is pretty amazing. There have been changes, such as the radiators being upgraded from a single to a twin pipe system," says Matthew Clough.

He has hugely extended his knowledge of fine art to cope with other period aspects such as Victorian central heating engineering.

The architects, Levitt Bernstein, of London, and builders Keir North West, of Kirkby, have had to contend with breaking through walls that have seven skins of brick.

"We’ve installed a glass-sided lift into the clocktower for maximum disabled access," says Matthew.

"This involved greatly enlarging a doorway and massive beams had to be inserted as this was a load- bearing wall for the tower itself. Nothing is built like this any more.

"The architects and builders have been fabulous, terrific to work with and not been fazed by any thing. They’ve always found a solution."

Keir North West, a long established family firm, has been working simultaneously on the even older Bluecoat Arts Centre.

Gareth Leek, Keir’s site manager, says: "We’ve been on site since last July and will hand-over in May.

"This is not a difficult job, but a challenging one. Everything has got to be underpinned to ensure that there is no damage to the historic features and fittings of the building."

Interestingly, the University owns more buildings by Waterhouse than any other UK body. He is best known as the architect of London’s Natural History Museum.

Largely bankrolled by the university itself, other benefactors for the building’s restoration include Jenny Rathbone, descended from one of the university’s founding fathers, The Linbury Trust (Sainsbury family) and the estate of Miss Marian Thomason, who studied at the university.