Cambridge Hall Lord Street Southport

SOUTHPORT - On Tuesday the new Cambridge Hall at Southport was opened. The building has cost £40,000. Its dimensions are 131 feet from end to end, and 80 feet from front to back. The principal entrance, in the centre of the Lord‑street front, is protected by an arcade extending between a tower at one end and a projecting pavilion at the other, and by a projecting carriage‑porch, with stone pillars. The entrance-hall is the largest apartment on the ground‑floor, its length, inclusive of staircase, being 53 feet, and its width 35 feet It is divided into bays by three arcades of pillars. On the right‑hand side of the hall is the mayor's reception‑room, 36 feet by 25 feet The approach to the principal floor is by a flight of stone stairs 11 feet wide. This staircase leads to a corridor 86 feet long. Parallel with this corridor and communicating with it by three large doorways is the assembly‑room, 120 feet by 50 feet, with a large orchestra platform at the Town Hall end, and galleries on three sides. The whole of the ground‑floor on the le feet of the entrance‑hall is let to the Postmaster‑General as a postal and telegraph‑ office. The height of the tower is 127 feet. The four figures in the sides of the tower from the chisel of Mr Alfred Norbury, of Liverpool, and represent Caractacus, Julius Caesar, Edward the Confessor, and Alfred. The architects of the whole were Messrs. Maxwell and Tuke, of Bury, and the builders Messrs Heyward, of Southport. [Building News 9 October 1874 page 446-47]

Reference    Builder 17 October 1874 page 864 - opening
Reference    Building News 9 October 1874 page 446-447
Reference    Manchester Guardian 7 October 1874 page 7