Bluecoat Chambers

Bluecoat Chambers is a historic school building, now serving as an art gallery and offices. It was constructed in 1717 and restored in 1951. The structure is made of brick with stone dressings and features a slate roof. It has a two-storey, five-bay central section that breaks forward, with three storeys and a basement in the eleven-bay return ranges. The building has a stone plinth, rusticated quoins, flat bands, and cornices topped with a brick parapet.

The central section has three bays that project forward and is topped with a pediment. The windows on the ground and first floors are round-headed, adorned with architraves and keystones in round-arched reveals, also featuring architraves and cherub keystones. The first-floor windows are set within fielded panels, and all windows are sashed with glazing bars. The entrance is round-headed and framed by an Ionic aedicule, which includes a pulvinated frieze and a broken segmental pediment that contains a cartouche of the arms of Liverpool. The frieze features a Latin inscription, and there is a clock in the tympanum.

Each return range has a bull's eye basement window and second-floor windows, with the latter featuring wooden casements. Other windows have brick flat arches and cherub keystones. There are three entrances with steps; the central one has an architrave, cherub keystone, pulvinated frieze, and a broken pediment that includes a Liver Bird. The ends of the return ranges mirror the central range. All windows are sashed with glazing bars, with those in the returns having 24 panes. A central octagonal cupola features round-arched openings, attached Ionic columns, and an ogival copper cap with a finial. There is an iron overthrow with a lantern above the central door and iron handrails at two entrances on the return walls.

Historically, the building suffered damage from bombing in 1941 and was restored in 1951 under the designs of Shepheard and Bower. Over the years, various parts of the building have been used for different purposes, including a gallery, café, offices, and shops. Notably, it housed a studio for the famous Liverpool sculptor Herbert Tyson Smith, whose relief sculptures of Bluecoat pupils are displayed alongside a tablet commemorating the restoration located in the front courtyard.