George Holt Building, Thompson Yates Building and Whelan Building, University of Liverpool

George Holt Building, Thompson Yates Building and Whelan Building, University of Liverpool

University lecture rooms and offices built between 1901 and 1904 by Alfred Waterhouse, for whom this was his last recorded work, and completed by his son Paul Waterhouse. The buildings are constructed of gault brick with terracotta detailing and have Welsh slate roofs.

The three buildings form a long and varied range running parallel to Waterhouse's Victoria Buildings and forming the north side of a quadrangle. The complex is mainly three storeys with basement, with many changes of plane and varied roof-lines that animate the principal elevation. To the left, the range returns to form the rear wing of the Anatomy School, and to the right it returns forward by one bay to form part of the west side of the quadrangle adjacent to Ashton Building Row.

The George Holt Building comprises the former Physics and Biochemistry blocks to the right. These are connected by a two-storey vehicular arch with a wide semi-circular arch in brick with stone voussoirs forming horizontal bands, and a four-light window above set between shallow pilasters with moulded string and cornice band. The former Physics section features a roughly central four-stage tower with pyramidal cap and two- and three-light windows of varied design to each stage. There is a gabled two-window range to the left and four-window range to the right. To the left are two corbelled stone oriels with 1:2:1 lights and two wide three-light windows under shallow segmental chamfered arches below. The principal entrance is set within a deeply splayed surround and round-headed arch with decorative stone detailing and an elaborate copperwork nameplate in the tympanum. To the left of the connecting arch is a more simply treated four-bay range forming the former Biochemistry block, with an entrance bay to the extreme left featuring a stone rusticated architrave and pediment. This otherwise symmetrical composition has a central gable, simple terracotta pilasters, stone strings, and two- and three-light windows with stone mullions and transoms.

The Thompson Yates Building is a long ten-window range punctuated by three gabled shallow wings. It has tall two-light windows throughout, with a blind arcade of pointed arches below eaves level for part of its length, and sill and lintel bands. To the left gable is a large terracotta name plaque adorned with semi-reclining figures. End and ridge stacks have coupled shafts separated by a central arch. The rear features an impressive stair turret, heavily buttressed with staggered round-headed windows.

The Whelan Building, formerly the Anatomy Building, has a gabled wing to the right of four storeys with mainly three-light windows set under a superordinate arch. Regular fenestration continues between this and the left corner, which is occupied by the Lecture Theatres. Here five segmental bays are divided by full-height buttresses, each with set-offs and gables. Deeply overhanging eaves to the slate roof of two pitches have the slope divided by three-light windows forming a clerestory to the upper theatres, with tall two-light windows to the lower floors. The left return has an elaborately treated projecting entrance tower with all-over terracotta detailing. The three-storey side elevation has five bays with regular paired windows to each floor; the two lower floors have a superordinate arch.

The Ashton Street range of the former Physics and Biochemistry Building is an asymmetrical seven-bay range under three gables. The four left-hand bays have 1:2:1 proportions with moulded cornice and the gable has flanking pinnacles. Two-light windows appear to all floors, those to the ground and first floor having transoms as well as mullions, with a keyed oculus to the gable wall. The right-hand bays are of different build with square-headed windows to the upper floors, all of two lights; the ground floor windows have segmental arches and three-light casement windows that are deeply recessed.

To the rear of these ranges is the former Medical Museum, a brick structure ashlar-faced to two sides with slate and part-glazed roof, dating from 1873. It was an extension in the same Classical style to a substantial range of 1844 (the School of Medicine), now demolished. The museum has a shaped plinth and Tuscan pilasters, pedimented to the north end facing Dover Street. The ashlar-faced north and west elevations have central, part-blocked windows with architrave and pediment (segmental to the north).

Interior of the museum: The interior features a four-bay roof with iron canted principals and decorated spandrels. A narrow balcony to all sides has Gothic iron tracery founts, shaped brackets and a thick glazed floor designed to give light to specimens displayed below. The floor is tiled. This forms an interesting survival of a late-19th-century museum.