Westminster Road Former Fire/Police Station

This former police and fire station complex was built in 1885 to designs by Thomas Shelmerdine, Liverpool Corporation Surveyor, in the Old English style. The buildings are constructed of common brick in English bond with pressed brick and sandstone dressings. Windows throughout are mullioned and transomed. A raised brick plinth with stone caps runs around the entire complex. The police and fire station buildings have hipped, tiled roofs with substantial end and ridge stacks, while the parade hall and engine house have pitched slate roofs.

Layout and Setting

The complex is bordered to the front (west) by Westminster Road, with Bradewell Street to the north and a car park (formerly Rockley Street) to the south. The fire station sits on the corner of Westminster Road and Bradewell Street, with the police station attached to its right and set back from Westminster Road. To the rear, beyond a central police yard, stands a large parade room and fire engine house, both presenting their gable ends to Bradewell Street. A high wall encloses the small central yard area.

Main Fire Station Building

The fire station is two storeys high with pressed brick quoining and quoined window surrounds, stone lintels and sills, a projecting stringcourse below the first floor, dentil eaves cornice, and a tiled hipped roof with tile ridge crest and finials. The three-bay front facing Westminster Road features two large Gothic-arched vehicle entrances of moulded brick. The upper section of the original double doors survives to the left entrance (the lower part is bricked up), while a later door has been inserted into the original right doorway. Above these openings, a decorative tiled panel with relief lettering reads 'FIRE ENGINE STATION', and a brick hoodmould continues across to an adjacent window on the right. This is a six-light stone mullion and transom window. Three six-light windows in the same style appear at first floor level, with four panes to the upper lights. Large, crow-stepped end stacks rise from the building. An elaborate stone carving of a Liver Bird adorns the north-west corner with the inscription 'ERECTED AD 1885'.

The four-bay elevation facing Bradewell Street has an eight-light mullion and transom window to the left of the ground floor, a doorway at centre left with a multi-paned rectangular overlight, a two-light transom window to the right, and a four-light window to the far right with brick mullions. The left bay has a raised roofline with its own hipped roof. At first floor level, there are four-light sash windows with four-pane upper lights, smaller three-light windows to the centre bays (sashes survive to the right), and two-light sash windows to the right-most bay in the same style. Stone sills, mullions and transoms are used throughout. A large stack with gableted stepped sides rises above the right bay. A dentil eaves cornice runs along this elevation.

The rear elevation features stone mullion and transom windows at ground floor level of the fire station (some bricked up), sash windows at first floor level (all in the same style as the front elevation), and a cast-iron fire escape to the rear.

Main Police Station Building

The police station has three bays with the central bay gabled. A spire rises from the centre of the roof with an open galleried intermediary stage in the form of a bell tower. To the right stands a ridge stack. The ridge of the hipped roof is finished with a crest. The ground floor entrance door and mullion and transom windows are set behind a high wall to the street frontage. The first floor of the central gabled bay has a five-light mullion window, each light with vertical sliding sashes with four panes to the upper sashes. Flanking three-light windows in the same style appear in the bays either side. Cast-iron rainwater goods are present throughout.

The rear elevation features a pressed brick decorative band between ground and first floors with a large six-light stair window above. The central bay has a raised roofline to accommodate a partial dormer window. Three cell windows (complete with bars) appear to the far left of the ground floor, with an original wide panelled door to the centre.

Engine House

The principal elevation is the gable end fronting onto Bradewell Street. This is a large, two-storeyed structure with a pressed and moulded brick ground floor. Two large square entrance openings have chamfered sides and folding doors. A wide, shallow oriel window supported on a carved console sits at first floor level, incorporating a panel reading 'STATION HOUSE', with a moulded brick cornice above. A narrow arrow-loop style window appears at the centre with a pressed brick arched head, and a projecting moulded brick stringcourse above. Chequerboard diapered brickwork fills the apex of the gable.

The left side elevation has multi-light segmental arched casement windows (four-three-three-five lights) at ground floor, and two casement windows at first floor, the right one being a later insertion. The right side of the building forms a party wall with the parade room. The pitched roof is tiled. Small outbuildings sit in a small rear yard behind the engine house.

Parade Room Building

The large gabled parade room has a large square opening of moulded brick to the left of the ground floor, accessing the single-bay engine house constructed in 1907. Original doors survive underneath a late 20th-century roller shutter. A smaller later insertion appears to the right, with a slender window (blocked up) above left and a later slender window directly above. The entrance doorway to the right has a shallow ogee arched head and stone surround to the upper part. A tiled panel above with relief lettering reads 'PARADE ROOM'. Brick pilaster strips run the full height of the building, those at upper floor levels being narrower. A late insertion of a uPVC casement window appears at first floor level. A corbel table sits between first and second floor levels.

Three narrow arrow-loop style windows with arched heads are set between four pilaster strips at the level above, with projecting horizontal pressed brickwork bands and narrow projecting horizontal and vertical brickwork bands to the apex of the gable. The rear of the parade room is in the same style as the front, with a doorway to the left of the ground floor and casement windows at ground and first floor. The west side elevation (facing the rear of the fire and police stations across the yard) has an extremely large stack to the centre. The pitched slate roof has dormer-style vents.

Station Yard

A central yard lies between the parade room and the buildings fronting onto Westminster Road. This yard includes a single-storey outbuilding and is bounded by a high brick wall to both north and south. The north wall has moulded copings and a recessed doorway into the yard area with a moulded surround and a stone keystone with fleur-de-lys carving. Above is a panel with relief lettering reading 'DISTRICT POLICE OFFICE'. To the left is a recessed window in a similar style which originally served a small storage area behind (now demolished). The south wall has a doorway with a stone lintel and a panel above with relief lettering reading 'POLICE STATION'. To the right there is a large inserted opening for vehicle access.

Interior

Original floors survive throughout, some under later coverings.

Fire Station

The appliance room fronts onto Westminster Road with a stone flag floor and a large brick and sandstone fireplace to the north wall. A bar counter has been inserted to the rear right of the room in a former small internal yard area (infilled at ground floor level only). The former station office to the right has a doorway knocked through in the south wall to connect to the police station. An original corner fireplace and moulded cornicing survive in the rear office fronting onto Bradewell Street. Between this and the appliance room is the entrance hall with a sweeping dog-leg stair (damaged to the lower part, with balusters lost), and stick and turned balusters to the first floor landing. The first floor suffered fire damage with rooms opened up, and a light well to the centre right (originally a small enclosed yard).

Police Station

Fireplaces have been removed but chimneybreasts survive, with moulded architraves to some doorways. Moulded cornicing remains in the large front office. A large room to the rear has a brick vaulted ceiling (probably the charge office). A former corridor leading to the cell range to the south has been incorporated into the front office.

The cell range originally comprised four cells, with brick-vaulted ceilings, cement floors, iron gates, and original 14-light windows with metal bars. A large double cell sits to the rear left. One cell has been converted into toilets, and the cell to the south-west corner has been converted into a gated corridor leading to the enclosed front yard. The complete cell to the rear right retains its original metal door, toilet, and wooden benches.

The superintendent's accommodation on the first floor features moulded window architraves, moulded cornicing and a decorative classical-style frieze to the front centre room. A timber dog-leg stair has turned balusters, a wooden handrail and newel posts, and a wall string. A large six-light multi-paned stair window survives. The doorway to the bottom of the stair into the police station has been blocked up, but the original rear six-panelled door remains.

Engine House

The appliance room has a herringbone-patterned brick floor, coffered ceiling, and patterned brickwork to the walls. A removable partition sits to the centre, and a pit to the rear of the appliance room is covered over. A screened station office to the rear right has a chimneybreast (fireplace removed) and a late 20th-century suspended ceiling. The original fireman's pole has been converted into a spiral stair.

The first floor has a large front room with built-in cupboards beneath the main window, and small rooms to the rear with some original panelled doors, door architraves, and picture rail. Outbuildings to the rear yard contain a battery store, outdoor toilets and a storage room.

Parade Room

The parade room is open to the roof, with seven wide arch-braced queen post roof trusses supported on corbelled brackets. Inserted ground and first floor offices have a metal and timber dog-leg stair to the rear. A removable mezzanine structure sits towards the rear. The 1907 single-bay engine house is to the front left. Former locker and storage rooms for the adjacent engine house are now used for storage, with the connecting door blocked up. An original dog-leg stair to the front leads up to first floor offices (modernised), and the connecting door into the first floor of the engine house has been blocked up.

History

Westminster Road fire and police station was constructed in 1885 when the Liverpool police force was being decentralised and reorganised into divisions similar to the Metropolitan Police. It was built to the designs of Thomas Shelmerdine, Liverpool Corporation Surveyor, who was responsible for municipal building projects in the city at that time. The station buildings cost £10,056 and the land was bought for £2,740.

Residential accommodation was provided on the first floor of the police station for the superintendent and sergeant. Originally there was no accommodation on site for the fire brigade inspector and sergeant, who lived in nearby houses on Westminster Road and Leven Street. However, after the start of the Second World War, it was required by Government that accommodation had to be provided in fire stations for the crews. As a result, the first floor of the fire station and some former ground floor office and storage rooms became dormitories.

The complex originally had a small number of stables behind the engine house on Bradewell Street, but these were demolished around 1917 to allow more space for vehicles after police transport had become fully motorised.

The police and fire brigade at Westminster Road was originally one police brigade force founded in 1836, in which police officers also acted as firemen and provided ambulances. However, after the passing of the 1947 Fire Services Act, which led to the creation of fire brigades in their own right, the forces separated in 1948. Over the years the property's different areas alternated use between the police and fire service. The engine house on Bradewell Street was originally used to house police vehicles and ambulances, and the fire station was located to the front on Westminster Road and within a single-bay engine house (created in 1907) in the parade room. However, in the 1950s the use was swapped over and the fire brigade took over the Bradewell Street engine house completely, while the police used the single bay in the parade room as a garage. In the 1970s the fire service regained control of the single-bay garage as police use at Westminster Road dwindled, and it was converted into a night room.

The fire brigade and police moved out of the premises in 1976 and 1985 respectively, and the buildings were subsequently converted for industrial use and commercial use as a public house.