The Albany Building is a 19th-century

Grade II* listed 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 ...

building on

Old Hall Street Old Hall Street is a road in Liverpool, 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 ...

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. Originally built as a meeting place for cotton brokers, it has since been converted into apartments.

History

The Albany Building is located on Old Hall Street, at the western edge of Liverpool's city centre, and a short walk from Moorfields rail station. Constructed in 1856 at the height of the city's expansion, it is one of Liverpool's most highly regarded works of architecture. The Albany Building was built under the instruction of local banker and racehorse owner Richard Naylor and designed by J. K. Colling. It was built as a meeting place for cotton brokers and contained offices, meeting rooms, and warehousing facilities in the basement. It is one of the earliest examples of

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

offices in Liverpool. The central courtyard is uncovered and provides good mutual light for the brokers to examine their cotton samples. The building gained

status on 12 July 1966. During the 1970s to 1980s, it was mainly used as offices, warehousing, and storage. The building was sympathetically renovated and converted into apartments in 2004–05. The Albany comprises 137 apartments in total, made up of two and three-bedroom luxury apartments and penthouses. The building has a 24-hour concierge service and features a bespoke car parking

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system designed and installed by Wöhr Parking, using a short space to store 84 cars. The courtyard can be seen through the glass doors from the street and has the largest outdoor Swarovski crystal chandeliers in Europe.

Architecture

The building is three storeys plus a basement, and its front on Old Hall Street has eleven

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

. The basement is constructed in rusticated

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

, the ground floor in rusticated

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

, and the upper storeys in brick with stone dressings. The round-arched entrance is in the central bay and consists of a granite surround with a keystone, carvings in the

spandrel A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame, between the tops of two adjacent arches, or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fil ...

s. Over this is a

frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

and a segmental

pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...

. The ground floor windows are three-light

sashes A sash is a large and usually colorful ribbon or band of material worn around the human body, either draping from one shoulder to the opposing hip and back up, or else encircling the waist. The sash around the waist may be worn in daily attire, ...

, with segmental heads and keystones. Above the windows is a

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

. The first-floor windows also have segmental heads, containing carved

archivolt An archivolt (or voussure) is an ornamental Molding (decorative), moulding or band following the curve on the underside of an arch. It is composed of bands of ornamental mouldings (or other architectural elements) surrounding an arched opening, ...

s and tympana. The windows on the top floor are smaller, with stone

architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; , also called an epistyle; ) is the lintel or beam, typically made of wood or stone, that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can also apply to all sides, including the vertical members, ...

s and keystones. Along the top of the building is a carved frieze, a cornice supported by brackets, and a

balustraded A baluster () is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its c ...

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...

. The side elevations are plainer and still include

cast-iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...

cranes. The main entrance contains the original cast iron gates. Inside is a

coffer A coffer (or coffering) in architecture is a series of sunken panels in the shape of a square, rectangle, or octagon in a ceiling, soffit or vault. A series of these sunken panels was often used as decoration for a ceiling or a vault, al ...

ed and

barrel vault A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...

ed passage leading to the central courtyard, containing red granite columns and decorated with elaborate plasterwork.

In popular culture

The Albany was used in the filming of the

China Miéville China Tom Miéville ( , born 6 September 1972) is a British speculative fiction writer and Literary criticism, literary critic. He often describes his work as "weird fiction", and is allied to the loosely associated movement of writers called ...

TV adaptation '' The City & the City.'' Ormond Street is a popular spot for filming and the building has appeared in several recent TV productions, ''

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'', ''

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'', '' The Five'' and '' The Curse''.

Gallery

File:A derrick in George Street - geograph.org.uk - 3227185.jpg, Wall crane and gate in the iron railings, to the basement warehouse below File:The Albany Building, Old Hall Street, Liverpool.jpg, The Albany's entrance File:The Albany, Liverpool.jpg, The Albany's courtyard

References

{{Authority control 1856 establishments in England Commercial buildings completed in 1856 Grade II* listed buildings in Liverpool

History

Architecture

In popular culture

Gallery

See also

References