Bank of England, Liverpool
Encyclopedia
The Bank of England Building is a Grade I listed building located in Liverpool
, England
. It was designed by Charles Robert Cockerell
and built in a Neoclassical style
between 1845–1848. The building was constructed as one of three branch banks for the Bank of England
in the mid-19th century.
The building combines several neoclassical architectural styles, notably Greek, Roman and Renaissance. The most evident of these is Greek, with four Doric style columns 'tying' the ground and first floors together. The building itself is raised up from ground level, sitting atop a rough granite
plinth.
Despite only being three bays
wide and seven bays deep, the building's design was seen to give it an "overwhelmingly massive and powerful" appearance. The building is regarded as one of Cockerell's most impressive and was described by Nikolaus Pevsner
as a "masterpiece of Victorian architecture".
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It was designed by Charles Robert Cockerell
Charles Robert Cockerell
Charles Robert Cockerell was an English architect, archaeologist, and writer.-Life:Charles Robert Cockerell was educated at Westminster School from 1802. From the age of sixteen, he trained in the architectural practice of his father, Samuel Pepys Cockerell...
and built in a Neoclassical style
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
between 1845–1848. The building was constructed as one of three branch banks for the Bank of England
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...
in the mid-19th century.
The building combines several neoclassical architectural styles, notably Greek, Roman and Renaissance. The most evident of these is Greek, with four Doric style columns 'tying' the ground and first floors together. The building itself is raised up from ground level, sitting atop a rough granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
plinth.
Despite only being three bays
Bay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
wide and seven bays deep, the building's design was seen to give it an "overwhelmingly massive and powerful" appearance. The building is regarded as one of Cockerell's most impressive and was described by Nikolaus Pevsner
Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner, CBE, FBA was a German-born British scholar of history of art and, especially, of history of architecture...
as a "masterpiece of Victorian architecture".