Mixture of residential and industrial
Cathedral is not only an Awe-inspiring place of worship
but it’s also the best place to enjoy high-level views over the city region.
In this aerial tour of 111 landmarks and significant places seen from the tower, we learn a lot about Liverpool’s rich, complicated and often surprising history and identity. Before you visit, check the website for opening hours and maybe phone up on the day. I’ve included ten quiz questions, so watch to the end of the article to check your answers
Please like, subscribe and post any landmarks I’ve missed or mistakes I’ve made in the comments. We begin with the Liver Building, which needs no introduction and between its two iconic clock towers we can see on the other side of the Mersey Wallasey town hall opened in 1920, now home to Wirral Borough Council. And then back on this side of the river, we can see The Unity Building, an innovative apartment building completed in 2007. Towering above it is.
Moda The Lexington, a rental apartment building that opened in 2021. New Hall Place aka The Capital or Royal & SunAlliance Building is a 13-storey brutalist style office complex, also called The Sandcastle. Across the river on the hilltop is. The Sacred Shrine of Saints Peter, Paul and St. Philomena or ‘The Dome of Home’ because when returning Liverpool seafarers saw it, they knew they were home. West Tower is the tallest building in Liverpool, it’s 140m tall. In the distance, we can see the steeple of St James New Brighton, it’s Grade II listed. One Princes Dock or Liverpool City Lofts is a 22-storey residential complex completed in 2006.
The Plaza, or Sir John Moores Building or 100 Old Hall Street, was built 1965 refurbished 2005. Perch Rock Lighthouse is a major landmark of New Brighton. It operated from 1830-1973 and is Grade II* listed. Fort Perch Rock was built in the 1820s in the aftermath of the Napoleonic campaigns in order to defend Liverpool against invasion. Now it’s a tourist attraction. The Kingsway Tunnel vent appeared in the 1970s. We’ll see the matching one on the other side later. The hexagonal Docker’s Clock or Victoria Tower was completed in 1848.
And here’s quiz question number 1: It was designed by the man who supervised the building of Liverpool’s docks in the 19th century. What was his name? The Municipal Buildings were sold off by Liverpool City Council and are covered in scaffolding. They’re are being converted into a 4-star hotel. The mighty Tobacco Warehouse has been converted into apartments and further ahead we can see the striking red-painted. Port of Liverpool cranes St John’s Beacon opened in 1969 and was the highest building in Liverpool at 118 metres. lt too offers great views. The former Library on the corner of Duke Street and Slater Street was Liverpool’s first public library. There’s Lime Street and the Vines pub - opened in 1867, rebuilt 1907 and in the bottom right, on Renshaw Street, Grand Central Hall.
We can see the Adelphi Hotel completed in 1914, built on the site of an earlier hotel. On Lime Street stood the Futurist Cinema. It was finally demolished in 2016.
The magnificent Grade I St George’s Hall
Needs no introduction.
It was opened in 1854. St Luke’s Church was bombed in 1941 and left as a memorial to people killed in war. It was built in 1832. The gardens are also a memorial to people affected by bombing around the world.
The Natex student development is under construction on the site of the National Express coach station. I featured it in my Liverpool Building Boom 2021 article. The Art Deco St Andrews Gardens near Lime St was built in 1935 and is now student accommodation. St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, once part of the Church of Scotland is now apartments. It stands on Rodney Street. And at 4 Rodney Street, you’ll find the birthplace of someone closely connected to the Beatles. What was his name? We can just make out the upper floor of the Cracke Pub on Rice Street, where the Beatles used to hang out. LIPA, The Liverpool Institute for Performing.
Arts was once the Liverpool Institute, a boys school attended by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. In front of the cathedral is The Oratory, a former chapel in the style of a Greek Doric temple. It was built in 1829. Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral stands at the other end of Hope Street from the Anglican cathedral, it’s Grade II* listed and was designed by Frederick Gibberd. IT was completed in 1967. The dark-coloured modern building behind it is the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, opened in 1978. The new hospital is due to open in 2022. The large white building in the distance is part of Aintree Hospital and it’s 7,81 km or 4,85 miles north of here.
Also to the north are Liverpool. FC’s Anfield stadium, which has been rebuilt and extended in recent years and close by, Everton FC’s Goodison Park stadium. They will be moving to their new stadium to be built on Bramley Moore dock. St George’s Church Everton is a prominent landmark on the top of the hill called Everton Brow, which offers panoramic views over the city, and it’s open 24 hours a day. Hope Street connects the two cathedrals and roughly in the middle is the magnificent Philharmonic Hall, completed in 1939 and Grade II* listed. It was designed by Herbert Rowse. His name will come up later. And now moving east, we see the new Novotel hotel which I featured in my.
Building Boom 2021 article, along with The Spine with its distinctive. Voronoi pattern, a very innovative new building said to offer great views. Next to it is. Liverpool International College and to its right, Paddington Village car park, actually quite distinctive in its own way. The red-brick Victoria Building of Liverpool University was completed in 1892.
The architect was Alfred Waterhouse, who designed
Manchester town hall.
Part of the ornate Georgian terrace below
Is number 3 gambier terrace, and my third question is: which beatle shared a flat here? canning street looks striking from above.
It’s part of Liverpool’s magnificent Georgian quarter.
Out to the east of the city is the Littlewoods Building - soon to be turned into film studios and way out in the distance are three blocks of flats. They are. Firscraig, Mosscraig and Whincraig, located on Little Moss Hey, Stockbridge Village in the borough of Knowsley. They’re 8,48 km or 5,27 miles away. In Wavertree to the east of the city centre is St Dunstan’s Church on Earle Road, an Anglican church of the sacramental, catholic tradition. Directly to the east of our viewpoint, with its striking roof, is Liverpool Women’s Hospital opened November 1995 by Princess Diana. And now we look far into the distance and what can we see? Let’s increase the contrast and the shapes on the horizon are the towers of Deansgate Gardens in Manchester. And my fourth question is: How far away are they exactly? I once took a picture of the Anglican Cathedral from Manchester’s Beetham Tower.
Not far away is Princes Road, where we find several places of worship of different faiths. The Al Rahama mosque - Masjid Al-Rahama opened in 1974 serving the city’s growing Muslim community. And now another question for you. On the corner of Princes Road and Parliament Street is a memorial to a great social reformer and statistician who was called ‘The Lady with the Lamp’ Who is she? Nearby is the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas, Neo-Byzantine in style, Grade 2 listed, completed in 1870. Further along is St Margaret’s Church Toxteth, an Anglican church. And almost next to it is. Princes Road Synagogue, built in the Moorish Revival style.
It’s still used occasionally. The church-like building with the pointed roof is former Adult Deaf and Dumb Institute, a magnificent building sadly derelict, just like the Welsh Presbyterian church, across the street, with its very tall steeple. There are ambitious plans to turn it into a community centre. Now we are looking down into St James Garden and that structure is the Huskisson Memorial and my sixth question is: George Huskisson is remembered for what tragic event? In St James’ Garden, there’s a spring which was discovered in 1773 and it’s said to have medicinal properties. The cooling towers and chimneys of the decommissioned Fiddlers Ferry power station near Widnes can be seen right across the North West. Now we are looking south towards the Welsh Streets area which I featured in another article. One of those streets on the far right is Madryn Street. Question number seven is: Nine Madryn Street is the birthplace of which member of the Beatles? Mossley Hill Church stands on the hilltop in south Liverpool and below it to the right, peeping up through the trees is The Palm House, Sefton Park.
At the north end of Windsor Street is Toxteth Library, one of several magnificent Carnegie libraries in Liverpool. Jutting above the tree line we can see the towers of the Mersey Gateway Bridge across the River Mersey near Widnes. The Silver Jubilee Bridge 1962, spans the Mersey linking the towns of Widnes and Runcorn both in the Borough of Halton, the southernmost borough of the Liverpool City Region. The new control tower of Liverpool John Lennon Airport is visible some eight kilometres or five miles south-east of the city centre And the control tower of the old Speke Airport can also be seen. Beyond it on the south side of the River Mersey, Frodsham Wind Farm Those are Garston Docks. The red brick building with the corner tower is The Florrie or The Florence Institute. It’s in Toxteth, and was founded in 1889 by former mayor Bernard Hall. Question number 8: Why is it called the Florence Institute? A wider view shows the Florrie and the Mersey, with Eastham Oil Terminal on the other side of the river.
It was opened in 1954.
This stepped residential building is under construction
On harrington rd.
I’ll be featuring it in another article. We can see a mixture of residential and industrial in this part of Liverpool. And this structure is ADM Milling, Liverpool, on Corn Street, The large construction site is One Baltic Square, a development of new apartments, and in the lower left, St James Church, the ‘slave church’. At the bottom of Parliament Street are the residential buildings. X1 The Tower and X1 The Studios, completed in 2018. Across the Mersey, we can see.
Cammell Laird Construction Hall, one of the largest buildings of its type in Europe. Now we are looking across the Wirral towards the Welsh mountains, the light is fading and the atmosphere is getting misty. To the west, next to the River Mersey on Queen’s. Dock is The Keel, the former HMRC building. And here we can see part of The Baltic Triangle, an innovative district of former warehouses and industrial buildings. I intend to feature it soon. Down below us is a striking bird mural by johnculshaw86 on Instagram. St Vincent de Paul Catholic Church dates from 1857.
It was designed by E.W. Pugin whose father helped to design the interior and tower of which famous building? That’s question number nine. Just across St James Street is Taurus The Vaults, a new apartment building under construction and up at the top, next to Parliament Street, also under construction is. Parliament Square, which I’ll be looking at in my Liverpool south construction article. Kings Dock car park replaces the old car park which, along with many cars, was destroyed by fire 2018. In the midst of all the new buildings is Wapping Dock, now apartments. Behind it is the Convention centre and the M&S Bank Arena, former Echo Arena which were funded by a very large grant from the EU. The Albert Dock is one of Liverpool’s most visited tourist attractions and needs no introduction.
The fairytale-like Gustav Adolf Scandinavian Church was completed in 1884. There we can see Merseyside Police Headquarters and the. Hilton Hotel opened 2009 on the site of which building which was needlessly demolished after WW2? That’s question number 10. The Museum of Liverpool opened in 2011 and I’ve featured it in a article of its own. And in the same year, The Mann Island development was completed. Sadly it partly blocks the view of the historic buildings. We can only see. The dome of the Port of Liverpool Building.
Behind it is the. Queensway Tunnel ventilation tower, which also I featured recently. Woodside Ferry terminal is on the other side of the Mersey.
Just behind it is Hamilton.
Square station ventilation tower, one of the
Landmarks of birkenhead.
Not far away are the. Queensway Tunnel ventilation towers which supply air to the tunnel. They were built in 1934.
Also. The Queensway Tunnel ventilation station stands on the waterfront and is a major landmark and a masterpiece of art deco architecture. All Queensway Tunnel towers on both sides of the. Mersey were designed by Herbert Rowse. The Great Float is the stretch of water dividing Birkenhead from Wallasey. It consists of West Float and East Float. It’s now the redevelopment area Wirral Waters The 12 Quays ferry terminal handles the ferries to and from Belfast. Next to East Float is the Grade II listed Central Hydraulic Tower and Engine House by Jesse Hartley opened in 1868.
Further north we can see the recently refurbished Seacombe ferry terminal, where the Mersey Ferry stops. Next to it is the Kingsway Tunnel ventilation tower, which matches the one on the Liverpool side. They both appeared in the 1970s. Over to the left in the distance is Wallasey Water Tower opened in 1860 and in the distance, we can just see St Nicholas Church on the far side of Wallasey. Back over on the Liverpool side, the magnificent India Buildings on Water Street can be seen and just above its roofline, the Lantern spire of St Nicholas Church aka. The Church of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas. The spire was designed by Thomas Harrison and completed in 1815. And just across the Mersey once stood the pier named the Egremont Ferry, next to the pub of the same name.
We’re back at the Dome of Home now, so we’re nearly home. And now the answers to the quiz questions: 1. The man who presided over the construction of Liverpool's system of docks was Jesse Hartley 2. Number 4 Rodney Street was the birthplace of Beatles manager Brian Epstein. 3. The Beatle who lived at 3 Gambier Terrace was John Lennon. 4. The distance from Liverpool Cathedral tower to Deansgate Gardens is 48.15 km, or 30.1, miles, exactly 26 nautical miles.
5. The memorial is to Florence Nightingale the social reformer, statistician and founder of modern nursing. 6. William Huskisson was killed by George Stephenson's Rocket at the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830. 7. Nine Madryn Street is the birthplace of Ringo Starr. 8.
The Florence Institute was founded by former
Liverpool mayor.
Bernard Hall and named as a tribute to his daughter, Florence, who died at just 22. 9. Augustus Pugin designed the interior of London's. Palace of Westminster and its clock tower. 10. The building that stood where the Hilton Hotel is now was the Custom House.