Liverpool, in 1836, saw the birth
of a new spirit of civic pride and a sum of £25,000 was
raised by public subscription to erect a worthy public
hall to accommodate the City’s triennial music festivals
which were then being held in St Peters Church. The
Foundation Stone of the building was laid on the day of
Queen Victoria’s Coronation in June 1838. The Hall was
to be called St. George’s Hall and a competion was held
to find the best design for the grand project.
The Western corridor. During the
championships the commentary room was located at the far
end to the right and the congress office in a side room
immediately to the right in this picture. The doors to
the left lead into the Great Hall.
The Henry Willis Organ:
Built in 1855 by ‘Father’ Henry
Willis of Henry Willis & Sons Ltd, one of the oldest and
most famous organ building companies in the world and
who have been based in Liverpool since 1845. The organ
cost over £9,000 and was originally the biggest organ in
the country until Willis built a larger one in the Royal
Albert Hall in 1871. The organ is supported by hollow
bricks and it has a total of 7,737 pipes.
The Hall was the first in the
country to incorporate an air-conditioning system
designed by Dr David Boswell-Reid (1805–1863) of
Edinburgh who also designed the system in the Houses of
Parliament. The stained glass window to the north side,
above the organ, shows the Arms of Liverpool and the one
to the south side shows St. George slaying the Dragon.
The magnificent ceiling, being the
largest barrel-vaulted ceiling in the UK , features
representations of the coat of arms of Liverpool and
Lancashire, images of St. George slaying the dragon,
mermaids and symbols of Roman authority.
Inspiration for the interior
design is Roman, complete with doors that include the
letters S.P.Q.L. which is an adaptation of ‘Senatus
Populusque Romanus’ and means ‘To the Senate and the
People’. The interior of the Great Hall is based on the
reconstruction of the tepidarium (the warm baths) of
Caracalla in Rome.
William Roscoe (March 8, 1753 - June 30, 1831), an
English historian and miscellaneous writer.
The Hall houses two courts, the Civil Court at the north
end and the Criminal Court (above) at the south end.
This was Liverpool’s only criminal court until 1984 when
criminal proceedings were moved to the newly built Queen
Elizabeth II Law Courts. The most famous criminal trials
held in the Hall included the Cameo Murder case and the
trial of Florence Maybrick, wife of the Jack the Ripper
suspect, James Maybrick.
The most famous legend of Saint George is of him slaying
a dragon. In the Middle Ages the dragon was commonly
used to represent the Devil.
The famous Criminal Court Jury Room, now part of the
heritage centre visitor tour.
