Overlooking the River Mersey from the Pier Head, the Royal Liver Building is one of Liverpool’s most recognisable landmarks. Completed in 1911 and Grade I listed, it forms part of the celebrated trio known as the Three Graces, alongside the Cunard Building and the Port of Liverpool Building, which together line the city’s waterfront. The building was also part of Liverpool’s formerly UNESCO-designated World Heritage Maritime Mercantile City.
History and Construction
Royal Liver Assurance approved plans for a new head office in 1907, with the foundation stone laid on 11 May 1908. Designed by Walter Aubrey Thomas in the Edwardian Baroque style and built by Edmund Nuttall Limited, the building drew on reinforced concrete construction at a time when the method was far from standard – so much so that some considered the radical design impossible to build. L. G. Mouchel and Partners served as structural engineering advisors. Lord Sheffield officially opened the building on 19 July 1911. In 1953, electronic chimes were installed as a memorial to Royal Liver Assurance members who died in the two World Wars. The building remained the company’s head office until its merger with Royal London Group in 2011. Put up for sale for the first time in October 2016 with a guide price of over £40 million, it was purchased in February 2017 by Luxembourg-based Corestate Capital and Everton F.C. majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri for £48 million. In 2025, long-term tenant Princes Group bought the building for £60 million.
Architecture and Visitor Access
The building rises ten storeys, including two within the roof. Each of its two clock towers is crowned by an 18 ft (5.5 m) copper Liver bird, sculpted by Carl Bernard Bartels, watching over both the city and the sea. The clocks themselves were made by Gent and Co. of Leicester, with faces measuring 7.6 metres (25 ft) in diameter – larger than those of the Great Westminster Clock in London and holding the distinction of being the largest electronically driven clocks in the UK. Since 2019, the public has been able to tour the West Clock Tower through a dedicated visitor attraction, the first time regular access to that part of the building had been available in its then 108-year history.