Four Gatepiers At Entrance To Liverpool Speke Airport

SJ485W 392/10/10096

LIVERPOOL, SPEKE ROAD, Four Gatepiers at entrance to Liverpool Speke Airport

GV II

Entrance gatepiers at Liverpool Speke Airport, formerly sited at 2 entrances. c.1940, relocated on a single site in 1998. By Herbert Tyson Smith, sculptor and designer. Rectangular gate piers of ashlar limestone blocks, arranged in staggered formation. The piers to the north each have an integral tapered column to their front face rising from a plain plinth, above which is a carved winged motif forming the head of each pier. The flat pier tops carry the bases of ornate light fittings. The piers are set approx 16 metres apart. Behind them, to the south, a second pair of piers, set further apart, with integral columns to the front faces, but with a plain rounded shallow platform to each pier top. The associated railings and plinth watts were erected in 1998, and are not of special interest. HISTORY: The piers formerly delineated 2 separate entrances to the airport site. The piers with the winged motif flanked the present entrance to the terminal building, whilst the plainer piers were originally located further to the east a separate entrance to the east, leading to the no. 2 hangar (item 101 1 180), used later as the international terminal. The gatepiers are representative of the sculptural content of the airport site, also represented by the relief carvings on the principal elevations of the 2 hangars. The gatepiers form part of the most important surviving ensemble of 1930's civil aviation structures in England.

Listing NGR: SJ4149383875