The Chatham Building, University of Liverpool

The Chatham Building, University of Liverpool

This two-storey building on Chatham Street was constructed in 1861 to designs by Oliver and Lamb, originally serving as a Welsh Presbyterian Chapel. It is built of ashlar limestone and red brick with ashlar dressings beneath a Welsh slated roof. The building has undergone twentieth-century alterations and currently houses University Communications Studies Studios and Offices.

The west entrance front displays five bays in a 1:3:1 arrangement, defined by giant composite pilasters. The central three bays project forward beneath a pediment and contain the principal entrance, accessed by lateral flights of six steps set behind a low flanking wall with ramped ends. Intermediate and end piers rise above the brickwork to support metal railings. The entrance comprises triple semi-circular arched doorways between pilasters, with the central opening wider than the flanking secondary doorways. All have panelled double doors; the central doors feature carved decoration to their base panels, whilst the north side doors are glazed. The outer bays contain semi-circular arched window openings with glazing bar sashes without horns. All ground floor arched heads have attenuated keystones rising from moulded arch surrounds to link with a deep moulded storey band, which deviates as a segmental arch above the principal doorway. Above, the semi-circular headed principal first floor window sits within the pediment base via a similar indent, fitted with margin-glazed sashes and flanked by semi-circular arched window openings containing glazing bar sashes. A frieze and boldly projecting cornice surmounts this level, supporting a shallow brick parapet with plain ashlar intermediate and end piers. The second and fourth piers are topped by decorative finials. An open bell-cote with a miniature pediment crowns the central pediment.

The south side elevation contains seven bays, the westernmost forming the return bay of the entrance front. Within this bay stands a single-storey semi-circular stair turret with a half-dome roof, featuring a basement doorway and two first-floor narrow glazing bar sash windows. An ashlar window band and moulded eaves band extend across this section. The remaining six bays contain stacked glazing bar sash windows, divided by two plain pilasters in a 2:3:2 arrangement. Basement windows sit beneath a plain lintel band, whilst ground floor openings lie beneath a shallow band with segmental indents to window heads. Semi-circular gallery windows with keystones link to the parapet cornice. Steps to the basement doorway are defined by railings, and a rear doorway features a massive lintel with an integral keystone and hood mould. The north side wall is identical in arrangement but lacks doorways.

The interior contains an entrance vestibule with a tripartite window featuring semi-circular headed lights with glazing bars and margin glazing. Arched flanking doorways lead to the meeting hall and to staircases serving the gallery and basement. The staircases have elaborate newel posts with carved finials and two bobbin balusters per tread. Ground floor arcades, now infilled by twentieth-century partitions, originally featured columns with volute capitals that remain visible and support gallery columns beneath a panelled and embellished gallery frontage. The gallery arcades contain tall semi-circular arches supported by slender columns with Composite capitals. A shallow vaulted roof covers the nave, with its junction to the arcades defined by a projecting cornice. Gallery tiers survive, though their benches have been removed.