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Liverpool, Victoria St., Imperial Buildings

Imperial Buildings date from 1879 and were designed by E. & H. Shelmerdine. They stand on a narrow triangular site at the junction of Victoria Street and Whitechapel, and make a very effective beginning to both streets. The ground floor was originally occupied by a bank. The facade is made of cream terracottaGlossary Term, manufactured by Gibbs & Canning who had supplied the terracottaGlossary Term for Alfred Waterhouse’s Natural History Museum in South Kensington, London. Glazed terracottaGlossary Term was a popular material in Victorian cities because of its supposed ability to remain clean by throwing off soot and dirt. Statues of female figures representing Commerce and Industry stand sentinel below the corner dome. In the 1990s the entire block of which Imperial Buildings forms part was transformed into offices for Liverpool City Council, and given the name Millennium House. The architects for this were Falconer Chester.