The architectural styles of building in the Liverpool have changed over the years in line with the development of the city as a major port in the British Empire. As such, the city has undergone a gradual change in architectural styles that date back to the 13th Century. The changes in the architectural designs were influenced by the energy economies at the time of building. The energy aspect determined the shape, location, and the materials to be used for building. Two distinct energy economies were the low-energy and high-energy economies. Therefore, the structures of the buildings in Liverpool were determined by the energy requirements of the historical periods when they were constructed. The architectural designs in Liverpool, in their correct order of occurrence in history, include; Medieval, Tudor and Elizabethan, Stuart, Georgian, Neoclassical, Victorian, and the 20th as well as the 21st
Century designs[1].
This assignment focuses on a building in Liverpool build in the pre-industrial societies and discusses its architectural and structural makeup in view of the corresponding economy, which will then be compared to another building with a striking similarity. The buildings chosen for analysis are the Royal Liver Building of Liverpool, England; and the Speke Hall of Liverpool, England[2]. The two buildings have striking similarities in their overall design and the clocks seen on top, besides other structural and aesthetic similarities.
Fig 1: Speke Hall (1530-98)
Fig 2: The Royal Liver Building (1908-11)
Analysis
The two buildings were constructed in different periods of history. The Speke Hall is a Grade I (1530-98) building and one of its kind[3]. It was constructed in the pre-industrial English society and outlines landmark architecture of the Tudor architectural period[4]. On the hand, the Royal Liver Building (1908-11) was built in the 20th
Century, after changing from the previous Victorian designs[5]. The subsequent section outlines the structural and engineering aspects of the two buildings as well as the aesthetic aspect, in view of the energy societies of the respective periods[6].
Structural and Engineering
The Speke Hall has a medieval cottage appearance with two one floor and a sharp-pitched roof[7]. It is observable that the building had one floor typical of the architectural and building styles of the period. Due to the low energy economies at the time, mechanisms were unavailable to develop materials for reinforcing the foundation and allow for more floors. The main source of energy was timber and the fossil fuels available had not yet been discovered and extracted[8]. As such, the building was mainly had sandstone foundations surrounded by a dry moat. These foundations lacked the structural capacity to carry many floors, even if they were made of timber. By contrast, The Royal Liver Building was built with thirteen floors, making it the first tallest building during the time, which set precedence to the skyscrapers seen in the modern generation. The tall building was made possible by a foundation built using reinforced concrete that transferred the weight of the numerous floors to the foundation.
The foundation was dug deep and anchored using strong steel bars. The availability of the steel was due to the change to high energy where the British had developed techniques of deriving coal from the numerous coal mines. The coal would then be used to manufacture steel used in the reinforced concrete. Thus, the materials used in the foundation of the Speke Hall were readily available and required low energy intensity to be available while the Royal Liver Building’s foundation used materials such as reinforced concrete that required high-energy intensity[9]. The difference was caused by the change in the available energy resources where the pre-industrial societies had few sources of energy to develop materials with a strength that would anchor a building’s foundation.
The construction elements of the two buildings are suggestive of the energy periods when the buildings were constructed in terms of the functions served. The Speke Hall was simple in terms of the constituted elements. From the outlook, the building was predominantly a wooden frame comprising of huge incomplete wooden beams that were supported by timber. The incomplete beams help the first floor of the building making it an overhanging floor. The ground floor comprised of an oak (wooden) frame embedded in the foundation of the building[10]. On the other hand, the top overhanging floor was supported by the incomplete wooden beams that served an important structural significance. The beams supported the weight that comes from the first-second floor while the total weight fell on the basement, which is embedded on the ground[11]. The individual functional significance was based on the fact that the pre-industrial societies lacked the right energy intensity and the engineering capability to bring about a weight-bearing factor that would allow for the uniform transfer of weight to the foundation. By contrast, the Royal Liver Building constitutes elements that all contribute to the overall role of providing support.
The building was constructed with elements that were different in constitution and arrangement. The beams, columns, arches, floors, and concrete elements were all part of an overall frame structure that allowed the weight of the upper floors to be uniformly transferred to the foundation, which had strong anchorage. The features of the elements in terms of length and weight were determined by engineering principles and in one way or another contributed to the overall support. For instance, the numerous concrete beams used spanned to lengths of about 15 meters while the arches spanned to as long as 18 meters. The arrangement of the beams and arches in relation to the columns allowed for bearing of the load with the columns supporting up to 1,525 tons whereas the beams carried loads of up to 1,420 tons[12]. The contributing roles of the elements were brought about by the availability of steel as well as the presence of the coal energy that allowed smelting of steel to different sizes that would carry different load capacities depending on their location in the frame structure. The engineering designs had also changed from bulky use of materials to the use of reinforced materials on the upper floors that were less on weight and effectively transmitted the load to the underlying elements.
The location of any building is determined by many factors, the main one being the function served. The location goes hand in hand with the overall structure of the building that is often arranged to suit a given purpose. Such is the case with Speke Hall and the Royal Liver Building. Their location and structure were based on the purpose they served in the corresponding periods. Speke Hall was built as a royal palace that housed wealth families during the time. The house was built in a countryside location and indicated the wealth of the occupants and the wealth of the region. The prestigious aspect of the building came was seen in that it houses priests and wealthy families, and was passed from one generation of important people to the next.
By contrast, the Royal Liver Building was constructed strategically for trade and office purposes. The building served as an office for the Royal Liver Group, which was an insurance company with nearly 6,000 employees. The building is located opposite the ferry terminal at Pier Head. It is among a trio of iconic structures built in the early 1900s to serve the then civic vision of enhancing the maritime gateway of Liverpool city[13]. Such entry would serve to improve the superiority of the city as a trading center. Around the building’s site lay a series of enclosed docks, which further shows the trading purposes served by the building.
Aesthetics
The aesthetic aspects of the two buildings show significant differences, which tell much of the society and the corresponding periods of construction. The foundation of the Speke Hall has sandstone surrounded with dry moat where the wooden frames were embedded. The wooden frame by the doors and windows had brickwork that mainly served as a luxury to improve the appearance. The wooden beams were also lined with brickwork to improve the appearance[14]. This form of aesthetic was typical of the pre-industrial low energy societies where brickwork and woodwork were the main handiwork that would help achieve aesthetic appearance[15]. Brick molding and timber work were the main activities and carvings as well as chiseling had not been experienced since there were no sources of energy to create the tools to achieve such. By contrast, the exterior design of the Royal Liver Building was rusticated using decorated masonry created by carving the edges of the stone back to create a plane surface[16]. The central face area has a texture that brings about a bold and stylish face. The rustication is a culture formed in the pre-industrial English society to serve aesthetic purposes and make the buildings beautiful. The tools such as chisel had already been developed given the high energy economy. This allowed masons to curve the stone and give it a texture that would be appealing.
The buildings were constructed differently although they served the same ostentation of presenting Liverpool as a rich and wealthy area. The Speke Town Hall, branded as Grade I, is regarded as one of the finest surviving Town Halls of the 1500s[17]. It is a true indication of the pillar of pre-industrial societies where energy sources were insufficient to create a range of building materials, which prompted the artistic use of wood and brickwork[18]. As such, the decorations and structure of the house represented the Tudor decorations. The building had oak lined inner walls that comprised of noble rooms such as a gun room and a study room that offered privacy. The windows were narrow, tall, and mullioned with small panes as well as a copper hood with great decorations. The doors were large with four-centred arches decorated with brick lining. The roofs had dormer windows that complemented a sharp pitch, giving it a noble appearance. It showed the beauty and royalty of the English countryside. The Royal Liver Building serves the same iconic purposes, particularly as a maritime gateway to Liverpool.
The structure is part of the ‘Three Graces’ that stand tall on the port in which the other two buildings are the Cunard Building and the Port of Liverpool Building. Due to its tallness, it overlooks River Mersey. The building is about 90m tall, which allows for great views over the waterfront[19]. The building is a towering and exceptional view for traders arriving from the waterfront. The top of the building has two clocks that have faces of about 7.6m diameter. They are called George clocks and were named after the coronation of King George. The clocks originally served to allow passing sailors to view time. The top of each clock has a Liver Bird Statue. One statue faces the city and was believed to guide and protect Liverpool. The other looks out of River Mersey and was thought to keep an eye on the sailors on the waterfront[20].
Conclusion
The pre-industrial and post-industrial societies in Liverpool had different energy contexts. As such, the pre-industrial period was characterized by limited energy sources, which affected the architectural structure of buildings in terms of the material used and the functions served[21]. Such is evident in the structure and function of the Speke Hall. After the industrial revolution, the energy sources increased leading to the use of revolutionized building materials that changed the architectural structure and the functions of buildings. One building in the post-industrial period is the Royal Liver Building that was the first building ever built by reinforced concrete in Liverpool following the successful smelting of steel using coal energy. The steel was used to provide the reinforcement. Speke Hall was located in a locality with minimal transport penetration since it was not a commercial building but rather a fortress. In comparison, the Royal Liver Building shows industrial transport systems in a waterfront that was designed to allow traders easy entry into the Liverpool city.
Bibliography
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"Francois Hennebique (1842-1921) reinforced concrete pioneer"
by D.G. McBeth, Proceedings Institution Civil Engineers (1998), 126 May, 867-95, paper 11382
"Symbols of Empire: The Buildings of the Liverpool Waterfront"
by Peter De Figueiredo, Architectural History 46, 2003, pp.229-254
Astrid Kander, Paolo Malanima, Paul Warde, Power to the people: energy in Europe over the last five centuries (Princeton: Princeton, 2013).
Croft, Catherine. 2004. Concrete architecture. London: Laurence King.
Cutler J Cleveland (editor), Encyclopedia of Energy (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2004).
Dresser, M. and Hann, A., 2013. Introduction: Slavery and the British country house. English Heritage.
E. A. Wrigley, Energy and the English Industrial Revolution (Cambridge: Cambridge, 2010).
Historyplex. (2018). Tudor Architecture: History, Facts, and Characteristics. [online] Available at: https://historyplex.com/tudor-architecture-history-facts-characteristics [Accessed 14 Nov. 2018].
MacLeod, Suzanne. "Occupying the architecture of the gallery: spatial, social and professional change at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 1877–1933." In Museum Revolutions, pp. 98-112. Routledge, 2007.
Vaclav Smil, Energy and Civilization: A History (Cambridge MA: MIT, 2017).
Visitliverpool.com. (2018). Speke Hall, Gardens & Estate - Historic House/Palace in Liverpool, Speke - Visit Liverpool. [online] Available at: https://www.visitliverpool.com/things-to-do/speke-hall-gardens-and-estate-p55084 [Accessed 14 Nov. 2018].
Whiffen, M., 1952. An Introduction to Elizabethan and Jacobean Architecture. Art and Technics.
Youngs, F.A., 1974. Audiovisual Aids for Teaching Sixteenth Century English History: A Critical Review. The History Teacher, 7(3), pp.374-393.
[1]
Joseph Sharples, Pevsner Architectural Guides: Liverpool (London: Yale, 2004)
[2]
E. A. Wrigley, Energy and the English Industrial Revolution (Cambridge: Cambridge, 2010)
[3]
Visitliverpool.com. (2018). Speke Hall, Gardens & Estate - Historic House/Palace in Liverpool, Speke - Visit Liverpool. [online] Available at: https://www.visitliverpool.com/things-to-do/speke-hall-gardens-and-estate-p55084 [Accessed 14 Nov. 2018].
[5]
"Francois Hennebique (1842-1921) reinforced concrete pioneer"
by D.G. McBeth, Proceedings Institution Civil Engineers (1998), 126 May, 867-95, paper 1138
[6] Cutler J Cleveland (editor), Encyclopedia of Energy (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2004).
[7]
Whiffen, M., 1952. An Introduction to Elizabethan and Jacobean Architecture. Art and Technics.
[8]
Youngs, F.A., 1974. Audiovisual Aids for Teaching Sixteenth Century English History: A Critical Review. The History Teacher, 7(3), pp.374-393.
[9]
MacLeod, Suzanne. "Occupying the architecture of the gallery: spatial, social and professional change at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 1877–1933." In Museum Revolutions, pp. 98-112. Routledge, 2007.
[10]
Historyplex. (2018). Tudor Architecture: History, Facts, and Characteristics. [online] Available at: https://historyplex.com/tudor-architecture-history-facts-characteristics [Accessed 14 Nov. 2018].
[11]
Ibid2
[12]
"An Architectural Look At The Liver Building - D2 Architects". 2016. D2 Architects. http://www.d2architects.co.uk/an-architectural-look-at-the-liver-building-1534.html.
[13]
Ibid4
[14]
Visitliverpool.com. (2018). Speke Hall, Gardens & Estate - Historic House/Palace in Liverpool, Speke - Visit Liverpool. [online] Available at: https://www.visitliverpool.com/things-to-do/speke-hall-gardens-and-estate-p55084 [Accessed 14 Nov. 2018].
[15]
Ibid9
[16]
"Symbols of Empire: The Buildings of the Liverpool Waterfront"
by Peter De Figueiredo, Architectural History 46, 2003, pp.229-254
[17]
Dresser, M. and Hann, A., 2013. Introduction: Slavery and the British country house. English Heritage.
[18]
Vaclav Smil, Energy and Civilization: A History (Cambridge MA: MIT, 2017).
[19]
Ibid6
[20]
Croft, Catherine. 2004. Concrete architecture. London: Laurence King
[21]
Astrid Kander, Paolo Malanima, Paul Warde, Power to the people: energy in Europe over the last five centuries (Princeton: Princeton, 2013).
