Greetings All,
Today we headed out to St George's Hall to view the Minton Tiles in the Great Hall. St George's Hall came about as Liverpool needed a hall in which to hold its music festivals. In 1836 a company was formed to raise funds for the building of such a place. The site picked was formerly occupied by the Liverpool Infirmary 1729-1824 and the foundation stone for the new hall was laid in 1838 in honour of Queen Victoria, with a competition being held for the design of the hall in 1839. The winner was Harvey Lonsdale Elmes and construction was started in 1841. Harvey unfortunately died in 1847 so did not complete the interior design. Sir Charles Cockerall was awarded this task. The engineer for the total project was Sir Robert Rawlins who carried on with the work and oversaw the design until Sir Charles took over from Harvey's untimely death. The Hall was completed in 1854 and cost 380,000 pounds. Today cost comparison 25.3 million pounds or approximately 50.6 million dollars Canadian.
The design is Neoclassical and holds a Assize Court, Cells, a Concert Hall, Tea Room and the Great Hall. The pipe organ was built in 1855 by Henry Willis and for a short time held the distinction of being the second largest organ in the UK with its 7737 pipes. It is now the third largest pipe organ in the UK with The Liverpool Cathedral organ being the largest and the Royal Albert Hall organ in London being the second largest. Restoration work was done started in 2000 and the Hall was re-opened on April 12,2007 by HRM Prince of Wales.
Harvey Lonsdale Elmes design for the Great Hall (completed by Charles Cockerall) was based on the Roman Baths of Caracalla. It is 169 feet long and 74 feet wide and has a tunnel vaulted ceiling. The tiles were manufactured by Minton Hollins tile factory in Stoke-on-Trent. The tiles are encaustic, this is a method that creates the design where coloured clay is poured into moulds and fired giving more durability to the patterns and the tiles. The design comprises some 30,000 tiles and was laid in 1852 costing 2000 pounds. It is 140 feet long and 72 feet wide. It should be noted that Minton tiles are found all over the world one good example is The Whitehouse in Washington D.C. They are situated around fireplaces and floors laid from 1876.
The floor was designed by Alfred Stevens of Dorset a son of a house painter. Born in 1818 he showed great promise as an artist and completed his training in Italy. The main design of the floor consists of three large circles. The largest in the centre measures 40 feet in diameter and depicts the Royal Coat of Arms. The other two circles contain the Liverpool Coat of Arms and The Star of St George, Rose, Thistle and Shamrock. Around these are nautical themes. As well, there are inscriptions both in Latin and English that all relate to the various sciences and arts. Depending on where the inscriptions are they relate to either the courts or the organ.
The raised area of the floor shows serious wear and tear with the tile colour being worn away almost completely. The main floor was covered in 1883 with wood in order to make it a more suitable for dancing. The wooden floor is like a puzzle so lifting it is no easy task as it must be lifted according to a set plan. The floor was only lifted on a average of every ten years and as a result the main floor is bright and unmarked.
When we were in the balcony overlooking the floor of the great hall Fred was approached by a custodian on duty as he noticed his camera. He asked Fred if he knew what a plasters mark was. Fred said if it was like a masons mark then he had some idea. He then took us to look at a plaster of a Angel in one of the corners. The head of the angel has the signature in the hair. The plasterer had hidden in the hair a profile of himself. The staff think it is his signature or a good joke he was pulling on the architect. George went on to tell us of some more of the hidden secrets of the hall which they hope to open for public viewing in the future once they have covered all safety concerns such as the catacombs under the jail cells and space between the Great Hall Ceiling and roof. As well they hope to be able to open the roof top for viewing. George of course has seen these areas and shared his experience with us. It was rather appropriate that his name was George as we were in St George's Hall and we laughed as he said that is why he gets to go to all the secret places of the hall.
Last but not least I told you earlier that the Hall was to be a place to hold music festivals. But as Liverpool also was in need of a Assize Court and cells for those waiting trial, the architect felt that rather than have two separate structures the building could be designed to house and met all the requirements. So St George's Hall became the court, jail, tea room and music hall all in one. The tour of the hall is usually free but the charge to view the Minton Tile Floor was only a pound less then $2.00 Canadian and it was worth much more.
We hope you enjoyed this bit of Liverpool History, pictures will be on Flickr by Sunday.
Happy Valentines Day All.
Ta Ra for now,
Sandy & Fred
