Liverpool Cathedral
Subscribe now to instantly view this image
Subscribe to the Architects’ Journal (AJ) for instant access to the AJ Buildings Library, an online database of nearly 2,000 exemplar buildings in photographs, plans, elevations and details.
Already a subscriber? Sign in
The 100 metre tall central tower
Built in a gothic style Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral, with its giant 101 metre tall central tower, dominates the city skyline
Giles Gilbert Scott won the open design competition to build a 20th century Cathedral for Liverpool in 1903 at the age of 22. Work began on the UK's largest Cathedral a year later in 1904 and although the church was consecrated in 1924, it was not completed until 1978.
The 188m long building lies on a north-south axis, on the prominent sandstone ridge roughly parallel with the River Mersey. The original design placed great emphasis on the nominal 'east end' with two towers placed at what is actually the north of the building.
Scott revised this plan while building was in progress, placing one giant tower at the centre of a symmetrical plan. Built in red sandstone the gothic revival structure demonstrates a simplicity and unity of masses on a giant scale.
Data
- Completed: Oct 1978
- Floor area: 9,687m2
- Sector: Religious
- Tender date: 1904
- Address: Liverpool Cathedral, St James’ Mount, Liverpool, L1 7AZ, United Kingdom
Materials 
Professional Team
- Architect: Giles Gilbert Scott
- Project architects: Frederick Thomas, George Bodley, Giles Gilbert Scott
- Client: Anglican Diocese of Liverpool
- Main contractor: Morrison & Sons
- Heating consultant: G.N. Haden & Sons
- Sculptor: Walter Gilbert
- Sculptor: Louis Weingartner
Suppliers
- Stained glass: James Powell and Sons
- Stained glass: Burlison and Grylls
- Stained glass: Kempe & Co.
