Building Name

Exchange Art Galleries Dale Street and Castle Street Liverpool

Date
1878 - 1881
Street
Dale Street
District/Town
Central, Liverpool
County/Country
Merseyside, England
Client
Messrs Agnew
Work
New build

Commercial art galleries for Messrs Agnew & Sons, published in The Building News, September 20th 1878. Agnew & Sons were prominent art dealers, with premises in Manchester and London with an International reputation. Standing on a prominent site at the junction of Dale and Castle Streets, the building has a chamfered corner. Built in red brick with terracotta ornament, it stands today intact as designed, and in used as a bank branch. but incorporated into the Midland Bank

EXCHANGE ART GALLERIES LIVERPOOL - Messrs T. Agnew and Sons' new galleries at Liverpool, which we illustrate this week, are noticeable for the material employed. The whole of the outside work, with slight exceptions, is finished with bricks. The cornices, mouldings, and carving are all executed in red brick, every brick being in fact worked on the premises for its position, and the carving executed after the work was set, in the same manner as the galleries of Messrs. T. Agnew and Sons in London. The whole of the woodwork in the portion of the premises occupied by Messrs. Agnew is executed in "real" woods, including American walnut and French black wood and pitch pine. The walls throughout are lined with material, thus avoiding all necessity for paint. The staircase, with its peculiar soffit and lead lights, and the ante room at the top are especially noticeable features. The large picture gallery is lighted by a top light around the ceiling abutting on the wall line instead of in the centre of the ceiling. The contractors for the work were Messrs Haigh and Company, of Liverpool; the marble mosaic floor by Messrs Trollope, of London, who also provided the material for covering the walls, etc. Messrs Salomons, Wornum, and Ely are the architects. [Building News 20 September 1878 page 290 and illustration]

We give a sketch of part of the new gallery which has been erected for Messrs Agnew in Liverpool from the designs of Messrs Salomons & Ely, architects. The exterior is carried out in red bricks from Maidenhead set in white putty, all cut and ribbed. The mouldings are cut on the spot and the carving is done in the brick. The interior is fitted up in American Walnut and pitch-pine, the cost was about £11,000. Messrs Haigh & Co. of Liverpool were the contractors for the whole of the work. [Builder 12 November 1881 Page 602]

Reference    British Architect 20 September 1878. Page 112
Reference    Building News 20 September 1878 page 290 and illustration
Reference    Builder 12 November 1881 Page 602 with sketch perspective illustration
Reference    Pevsner South Lancashire Page 172