Philharmonic Hall (Liverpool)

• Theatre ID
  1919
• Built / Converted
  1939
• Current state
  Extant
• Current use
  Music venue (Concert hall)
• Address
  Hope Street, Liverpool, Merseyside, L1 9BP, England

Details

The first Philharmonic Hall, a fine stone-faced Italianate building, was destroyed by fire in 1933. Its replacement, which opened just before outbreak of the Second World War is a large building of warm grey-pink brick with a façe in the Dutch Dudok style. Mainly of three-storey height it has a symmetrical front flanked by semi-circular stair turrets. Above the canopied entrance are seven large vertical windows separated by piers topped by abstract emblems. Detached piers contain poster panels with rounded mounts. The auditorium contains a continuous rising plane of seats broken at one level by a line of horseshoe boxes panelled in light wood, six each side ten at rear, and is backed by an end wall of sound-absorbent material. Above the balcony the suspended ceiling curves like a lobster back, narrowing to meet the resonant wall at the platform end. The large concert stage, rounded in front has the provision of a disappearing proscenium and screen for projection driven by an electric motor (revolutionary in 1939 and still uncommon). The organ console, on a revolving base, rises the same way behind it between the conductor’s rostrum and the curves of seats for the choir.

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• Events
  • Owner/Management: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society
  • 1849 Design/Construction:
    • John Cunningham - Architect
  • 1939 Alteration: rebuilt on same site
    • Herbert Rowse - Architect
  • 1939 Design/Construction:
    • Messrs Rushworth & Dreaper Ltd (Liverpool) - Consultant: Organ
    • Hector Whistler - Consultant: Glass Decoration
    • Edmund Thompson - Consultant: Reliefs In Plaster And Panels In Bar Areas
  • 1995 Alteration: major refurbishment and alterations
    • Peter Carmichael - Architect
• Capacities
  • Later: 1910: 2351
  • Current: 1700
• Listings
  • Grade II*
• Stage type
  • Concert platform with bowed front
• Dimensions
  • Stage dimensions: 1997 Depth: 12.5m Width: 12.5m
  • Orchestra pit: N/A