Liverpool trip
A final selection of photos of Liverpool, showing the way history has been preserved, particularly around the docks, by a visionary usage of the older buildings alongside eye-catching new developments. It really is an exciting and vibrant city.
This is the Albert Dock, opened in 1846. At that time it was a revolutionary development, where ships were unloaded directly into secure warehouses built of brick, stone and cast iron with no combustible wood. Now it's a major tourist draw and the largest collection of Grade I listed buildings in the UK. It has been transformed into offices, shops, galleries (including the Liverpool branch of The Tate), two hotels and many bars, cafés and restaurants.
There are a couple of 'tall ships' permanently displayed in Canning Dock. One, Kathleen and May is the only remaining three masted topsail schooner of her type in the world. I'm not sure of the name of the one in my photo but it's a beautiful ship.
The Port of Liverpool building's domes contrast sharply with one of the newest additions to the Liverpool waterfront, the Mann Island buildings. Opinion is wildly divided as to whether these statement glass edifices add to or detract from the area. Me... I liked the reflections in them!
I prefer the older architecture to the modern. That schooner is quite a sight!
ReplyDeleteI like the framing of the old domed building by the new stark building.
ReplyDeleteIt must be hard for town planners to mix the old and the new aesthetically. Sounds like Liverpool has done so. My sister in law is from Liverpool. She lives in London now. I love to see how old buildings have been brought back to life.
ReplyDeletePoet John Masefield wrote poignently of "Liverpool's windy ways". He loved the tall ships with their attractive names: Imperator Alexander, Herzogin Cecilie, Thermopylae, Nanking, the Wanderer and Wayfarer, both built in Liverpool. The famous large fleets of barques and full-ships, the "Shires"and the "Bens". Masefield wrote of "the gracefulness of their lines; we shall not see man-made beauty the like of this again".
ReplyDeleteNice to see a bit of Liverpool. Probably the closest I will ever get to Liverpool.
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