The Lewis's Building is a 20th-century

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

located in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Purpose-built as the flagship store for the now defunct Lewis's department store chain, the building was set to be redeveloped as part of redevelopment project Central Village.

History

In 1856 men's and boy's clothing store Lewis's began trading from 19th century building on the current site. This building was eventually replaced in the 1910s and 1920s with a design by Gerald de Courcy Fraser which incorporated the adjacent Watson Building. During the

Liverpool Blitz The Liverpool Blitz was the The Blitz, heavy and sustained bombing of the British city of Liverpool and its surrounding area, during the Second World War by the Nazi Germany, German ''Luftwaffe''. Liverpool was the most heavily bombed area o ...

the building was mostly destroyed by bombs, requiring a rebuild which was again taken by Gerald de Courcy Fraser in 1947. The newly constructed nine-storey 420,000 sq ft store opened in 1956 and operated until 29 May 2010. Since the demise of Lewis's the building has been remained vacant apart from with a branch of PureGym currently occupying the basement floor since 2015. The building was set to be redeveloped under a new project called Central Village whereby the new site would consist of 26 units with an average floor space of (although the largest unit covers ). This would bring the total retail and leisure space in Central Village to around , effectively making it the third largest shopping centre in Liverpool city centre behind only

Liverpool One Liverpool ONE is a shopping, residential, and leisure complex in Liverpool, England. The project involved the redevelopment of 42 acres (170,000 m2) of land in Liverpool City Centre, the city centre. It is a retail-led development anchored by ...

and St. John's Shopping Centre. Large amounts of office space and a 125-room Adagio hotel were to occupy the remaining floors.

Sculpture

To symbolise Liverpool's resurgence following World War II a statue made by Sir

Jacob Epstein Sir Jacob Epstein (10 November 1880 – 21 August 1959) was an American and British sculptor who helped pioneer modern sculpture. He was born in the United States, and moved to Europe in 1902, becoming a British subject in 1910. Early in his ...

of a nude man was added above the building's main entrance. Its official title is ''Liverpool Resurgent'' but is nicknamed locally as either 'Nobby Lewis' or 'Dickie Lewis'. The statue was unveiled for Lewis's

Centenary A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century. Notable events Notable centennial events at a national or world-level include: * Centennial Exhibition, 1876, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...

celebrations in 1956, which came as the blitzed store had completed rebuilding. It is a well-known local meeting place, and was immortalised in the 1962 anthemic song ''In My Liverpool Home'' by Peter McGovern: :"''We speak with an accent exceedingly rare,'' :''Meet under a statue exceedingly bare''"

References

{{Authority control Grade II listed hotels Grade II listed buildings in Liverpool Unused buildings in Liverpool