History of India Buildings Liverpool

The Site

The block of offices known as India Buildings, which was completed early in the year 1931, occupies an island site, facing the main thoroughfare of Water Street and Brunswick Street and with side frontages on to Fenwick Street and Drury Lane, in the heart of the business and banking quarter of Liverpool and within five minutes walk of Princes Landing Stage on the River Mersey.

The name is a historic one in Liverpool. Nearly one hundred years before the date of the completion of the new India Buildings, George Holt conceived the idea of erecting a block of light and airy premises to consist entirely of offices, whereas before then the business transactions of merchants and ship owners had been conducted on the ground floors of private dwellings, or more frequently in dark and dingy "counting-houses" partitioned off from warehouses.

In 1833, the foundation stone of old India Buildings was laid and the handsome structure facing on to Water Street and Fenwick Street and built to the designs of Franklin, the Architect, was completed in 1834. Rumor has it that the walls were made exceptionally strong, so that, if the novel idea of a block of offices were not a success, the building could be converted into warehouses.

Well designed and well built it certainly was and presented a dignified appearance until its demolition in 1928.

Old India Buildings occupied, however, less than half the area of the new. A narrow lane called Chorley Street crossed the centre of the new site. India Buildings, Fenwick Chambers, Fenwick Court and The Atlantic surrounded a court yard on the upper side of this lane, while Canton and Commercial Buildings, Seaton Buildings, Cereal chambers and other (later and much inferior structures) came between Chorley Street and Drury Lane.

In June , 1922, negotiations were commenced with The Liverpool Corporation in regard to the frontage lines of the new Building. It was obviously essential in the interests of the City that Water Street should be widened, less necessary, but still desirable, that Fenwick Street should be increased in width, while it was decided that the Brunswick Street face line should remain unaffected, as any future widening of this potentially important street would have to be on the other side, so as to bring more into line with Cook Street farther up.

The agreement eventually reached provided that Chorley Street should be closed and the site built over and that the building line along Water Street was to be set back eighteen feet to compensate for this privilege.

Furthermore, Fenwick Street was to be widened to forty-two feet between building lines throughout (involving a set back of twelve feet at the Water Street end) less 4 ft 6 ins for an area and Drury lane was to be widened by eight feet on the India Buildings side.

Permission was also obtained to build to a height of 120 feet to cornice level from the pavement at the corner of Water Street and Drury Lane, exclusive of two stores set back at the above cornice level. This gave room for a basement on the street level at Dairy Lane and about ten feet below it along Fenwick Street, a lofty ground floor and eight stores above this.

The Associated Architects for the Building were Messrs Briggs and Thornely F.F.R.I.B.A. and Mr Herbert J Rowse F.R_I.B.A.,Mr J. R. Sharman M.Inst C E ., acted as Consulting Engineer for the steel framework and Mr. A. G. Ramsey, AM.Inst.C.E., for the heating and ventilation.

The General Contracts were Messrs. Wm. Thornton and Sons. Ltd., of Liverpool. Messrs Borman, Long & Co., Ltd., supplied and erected the steel framework.

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Architectural Design

For the convenience of Messrs Alfred Holt & co., and other tenants of old India Buildings, it was essential that the new building should be constructed in two separate and independent parts, divided roughly by the line of the upper side of Chorley Street, so that old India Buildings might remain intact until the first part of the new building was completed and ready for occupation.

With this condition in view, a principal entrance was planned at the centre of the Water Street and Brunswick Street faces, with lofty Elevator Hall at each entrance and an arcaded corridor running across the building at ground floor level between them. One wall of this corridor and parts of the Elevator Halls had to be omitted from Part I, the gap being temporarily screened by wooden hoardings which somewhat restricted the public space. On the other hand, there was just room to get in the steel stanchions on that side of the corridor and so to complete the staircases, which were carried up from the elevator halls on each inner face of the building, with Part I.

Two light courts are formed above first floor level, running across the main axis of the building, with sky-lights which give light to the main corridor and to the lofty portion of the ground floor on each side. On the upper corridors run from elevator lobby completely round the building, serving on each side of them rooms which are adequately lit from either from the light-courts or from the outside of the block.

The site as finally determined is a quadrangle with the following lengths of fronts:
Water Street 214 feet and Brunswick Street (opposite) 210 feet Fenwick Street 257 and Drury Lane (opposite ) 243 feet, but no corner is a right angle.

The interior columns are, however ranged on lines parallel to main axes at right angles to each other and the two parts of the building are thus symmetrical in every way from the first floor level upwards, except for the depth between the corridors and the outside walls, which varies uniformly from corner to corner.

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