How Did Greek Architecture Influence The Development Of Liverpool In The 18th Century

Figure 5: Development of the Winsor area (near Parliament Street) in Liverpool from 1885 to 1890

The continuous income from the seaport trading had steadily built up the prosperous time of this wonderful city. After 25 years of its profit-making transatlantic business, Liverpool succeeded to be the European preeminent seaport in 1740. The prosperity had caused the vanishing of innumerable 18 century Anglican churches and many other buildings. However the city scale did not change dramatically in mid-18 century, as residential squares were designed without a complete plan, and the original lanes and fields formed the street lines (Pollard and Pevsner, 2006). As the city was expanded, parallel road services and streets were well laid out, and

At the same time, the increasing economy in Britain had an urge to build new public buildings to exhibit national confidence (Sharples, 2004). Flemington (2003:294) takes the view that ‘Greek orders provoked architects to copy them slavishly, particularly on public buildings, where they imparted a monumental air and implicitly linked British and ancient Grecian politics.’

John Foster Fun was the dominating proponent for Greek revival in Liverpool. Yet a majority of his buildings have been devastated, such as the second Royal Infirmary and the public baths at the pier head (Pollard and Pevsner, 2006). In contrast, C.R. Cockerell, who visited Greece with Foster, made the building stands out from the typical transformation of temple architecture in the younger Foster’s work (Pollard and Pevsner, 2006). Remarked as ‘the most distinguished opponent of the dullness of the Greek Revival’ (Watkin, 2001:150), Cockerell has changed the understanding of Greek architecture with his of perspective of basic design in Greece sculpture. His design for branch Bank of England in Liverpool is a splendid combination of late Roman, Greek, and Renaissance style, which reflects fewer decoration sculptures but a sense of classicism (Pollard and Pevsner,

Pollard and Pevsner (2006) believe that St George’s hall is ‘classically inspired and culturally aspiring’. Completed by Harvey Lonsdale Elmes and decorated internally by Cockerell, the building is a combination of a concert hall and separated assembly courts allocate for meetings, festivals, dinners and concerts. To celebrate the delight of prosperous of the city, the scale of the building has outweighed other great English buildings such as the Westminster Hall and the new Birmingham Town Hall (Pollard and Pevsner, 2006). Sir Charles Reilly regards St George’s Hall as ‘not only the best Greco-Roman building in Europe but representing the climax of a long movement’ (Fleetwood-Hesketh,