Thursday 22 April 2010

St George’s Hall


Tomorrow is St George’s Day so I thought I’d take the opportunity to show you around St George’s Hall, Liverpool.




St George’s Hall is one of the finest neo-classical buildings in the world.

 

  
  

 

The Minton tile floor of the Great Hall comprises some 30,000 tiles and was laid in 1852 at a cost of £2,000. It is 140 feet by 72 feet.


The floor is covered by a wooden dance floor for most of the time but there is a grand ‘Reveal’ every ten years or so.

The main circle in the centre has the Royal coat of arms in it and is 40 feet in diameter.


Two circles containing representations of dolphins are on the raised section of the floor. this is never covered and as a consequence the tiles are much worn.



The organ for the Great Hall at St George's Hall was selected at the Great exhibition of 1851. Created by Henry Willis, it was famed as one of the finest organs in the country.

 
 

In my view the ceiling of the Great Hall is as magnificent as the floor. (Note that St George appears yet again.).




St George's Hall was the first air-conditioned building in the world. The system was a great scientific achievement and marked a growing concern about problems of public health. The inventor, Dr David Boswell reid, was interested in the spread of infectious diseases and saw a connection between lack of ventilation and clean air. In his revolutionary system the air was drawn in and cleaned of pollutants. Giant fans pushed the air around and a labyrinth of flaps controlled its movement around the building. The air was warmed or cooled according to the requirements of the day.



This new sculpture celebrates the recent renovation of the Hall. It depicts St George as a ship’s figurehead, spearing the dragon with its lance as it emerges from the ocean. The Liver Bird flies overhead protecting the two globes that signify the world trade routes that created Liverpool’s wealth.


7 comments:

  1. What a spectacular building!!! I've never seen anything like it! Thank you so much for the tour!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a lovely building -- and what an informative post. Hope you and your family will have a happy St. George's Day tomorrow.
    Take care and God bless,
    Canadian Chickadee

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a lovely building -- and what an informative post. Hope you and your family will have a happy St. George's Day tomorrow.
    Take care and God bless,
    Canadian Chickadee

    ReplyDelete
  4. John what an absolutely fantastic building. The photographs are brilliant you really have done it justice.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks, that was a wonderful, informative post. I can only manage exclamations - How beautiful! Spectacular! Fabulous! And how fortunate you are to have such history in your city! And how lucky am I to have you bring it to me here so far away!

    Word verification is menstris. I'm sure it means something?? Men-stris or mens-tris?

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a beautiful building. Our allotment association were lucky enough to tour it several years ago, I had completely forgotten how fabulous it is!

    ReplyDelete
  7. lovely to see this . My Grandfather (or great grandfather - not sure which!) was a master plasterer and worked on the 'fancy bits' of the ceiling in St Georges Hall. When my sister was a civil servant (back in the 70's ) the workmen where doing some cleaning and allowed her up to see where his initials had been carvedin a hidden corner of course !!.
    My son was born 22 years ago on St George's day - it was hot then as I recall and the heatwave lasted through May Day as it looks set to do this year.

    ReplyDelete

Hello - thanks for dropping by to leave a comment. Your comments are much appreciated even if I don't always reply. They will appear as soon as they have been moderated.

Blog Archive