Lewis'S Department Store

Lewis's Department Store is a major post-war department store designed in 1947 by Gerald de Courcy Fraser and constructed in the late 1940s and early 1950s by Fraser, Sons & Geary. Built in the stripped Classical style with a steel frame, the building features Portland stone facades with brick to the rear. It replaced an earlier store that was largely destroyed during the Second World War, though the adjacent Watson Building, which had been incorporated into the earlier store, retains its early 20th-century facade.

Plan and Layout

The building consists of a long main north-east block running alongside Renshaw Street, with a shorter block extending westward from the right end down Ranelagh Street. The west end faces Fairclough Street, whilst Lawton Street and Cropper Street lie to the south-west rear. The main entrance fronts onto Ranelagh Place.

Exterior

The Renshaw Street elevation, including the Watson Building, extends 25 bays, the Ranelagh Street elevation comprises 16 bays, and the Fairclough Street end elevation has 9 bays with a further bay to the flat left corner. A large flat corner bay faces Ranelagh Place. The major part of the store rises seven storeys above a basement and sub-basement, with a ground floor mezzanine level at the north-west corner. The Watson Building at the south-east end of the Renshaw Street elevation stands eight storeys high across five bays. Slim red granite columns with Ionic capitals divide recessed paired windows on the second and third floors, whilst fourth floor columns are Tuscan in style. The middle floor bays are divided by full-height pilasters. A balustrade with pierced roundels sits at the fifth floor, with three-light windows on the fifth and sixth floors flanked by paired pilasters. A dentil eaves cornice and balustraded parapet complete the roofline, with a further storey set back behind.

The main seven-storey elevations facing Renshaw Street, Ranelagh Street and Fairclough Street share the same design: large ground floor display windows, windows with geometric style glazing on the first, second and third floors flanked at each end by full-height segmented pilaster strips. Large gold incised lettering reading 'LEWIS'S' appears between the first and second floors on both the Renshaw Street and Ranelagh Street elevations. Windows in identical style on the fourth and fifth floors are divided by classically styled two-storey pilaster strips. The top floor is set back behind a parapet wall (displaying relief lettering reading 'LEWIS'S' on the Fairclough Street elevation) except at the corners, which are flush and give the appearance of towers used as stair towers. The building has two entrances on Renshaw Street, one on Ranelagh Street, and one on the flat corner bay where Ranelagh Street meets Fairclough Street, some flanked by fluted half-columns.

The main entrance on the flat corner facing Ranelagh Place is a tall Egyptian-style porticoed entrance rising to the second floor, with three ground floor entrance doorways separated by plain full-height square columns. Large ciment fondu relief panels above each doorway were created by Sir Jacob Epstein in 1955. These depict scenes of childhood modelled on Epstein's own children and grandchildren: young boys play fighting (left), a baby girl sat in a pram with her pet dog (centre), and children playing playground games (right). Tall windows above the panels are now covered over with signage. A giant 18-foot high bronze statue of a nude male figure titled 'Liverpool Resurgent' emerges from and surmounts the portico. This statue, striding forward on a ship's prow, was also created by Sir Jacob Epstein between 1954 and 1956 and represents Liverpool's resurgence after the Second World War, whilst the lower panels represent the new generation for whom Liverpool was being rebuilt. A two-storey colonnade at the upper part of the corner entrance features fluted Doric-style half-columns with windows between the columns on each floor in the same style as the main elevations. Plain carved panels appear between floors, with a parapet at the roofline and a further storey set back behind. The flat roof has raised lights and two large water tanks.

Interior

Stone and marble stairs throughout the building have timber handrails overlaid in metal (some with solid metal handrails), decorative wall plates, and Art Deco inspired pierced metal splat balusters. Marble entrance hallways greet visitors, with stepped light boxes on the ceiling of the far left Renshaw Street entrance. Original lifts remain (some not in operation with cars removed), featuring grill doors underneath later fire doors, attendant's seats and operating mechanisms. Passenger lifts at the south-east end of the building retain original clocks incorporating coloured lights corresponding to the member of staff needed on the shop floor. 1960s escalators occupy the centre of the building, whilst part of the original escalators to the fourth and fifth floors survive.

The sub-basement contains storage and maintenance areas. From the basement to the third floor, the layout is open plan with large fluted stone columns based on those in Selfridges, London (owned by Lewis's at the time of the store's reconstruction). These columns are boxed in on the second and third floors. The fourth floor originally had the same layout but is now partitioned for offices, though the original fluted columns remain intact. A ground floor mezzanine level at the north-west corner features an Art Deco inspired pierced metal balustrade divided by the corner entrance stair, with access from a half landing on the corner entrance stair and late 20th-century timber stairs rising from the shop floor.

The fifth floor retains original polished exotic wood panelling, panelled doors, and a tiled floor to the main corridor running down the left side of the Ranelagh Street block. Inserted late 20th-century fire doors stand at each end. The ladies' powder room and gentlemen's toilets preserve original fittings and tiling. The former self-service restaurant at the Fairclough Street end of the building features a 65-foot long, 10-foot high tiled Festival of Britain mural on the east wall (originally behind the servery), produced by Carter's of Poole. This mural depicts food and crockery and was probably designed by Alfred Burgess Read or Peggy Angus, using hand-painted and hand-printed tiles. A further mural on the south wall depicts geometric patterns and cutlery, probably by the same designer. Decorative pierced metal screens appear above seating benches, with mid 20th-century drop lights and a ball-and-rod light fitting at the centre of the ceiling. An original pierced bronze screen by Mitzi Cunliffe from 1957, depicting the War of the Roses, has now been removed. Two other restaurants on the fifth floor are plain in appearance, with a kitchen featuring tiled walls, floor and ceiling.

The former Glemby hair and beauty salon at the north-east end contains a long rectangular plaster relief on the south-east wall depicting four naked women amongst a field of flowers, by an unknown artist but possibly Epstein or Mitzi Cunliffe. The salon has a patterned metal ceiling, booths incorporating metal leaf sculpture, and original mid 20th-century hairdryers and seating. Storerooms and workshops occupy the rest of the floor. There is no sixth floor to the main store.

The seventh floor has the same layout as the fifth, with a corridor featuring a tiled floor and walls, the latter with green tiles forming geometric patterns. A function room above the mural restaurant has a sprung dance floor and a large tiled kitchen with dumb waiters. The north-east end of the building above the salon formerly contained offices divided by low partition walls, with raised roof lights. Medical rooms and offices occupy the rest of the building. The Watson Building retains its early 20th-century layout and is used as office and storage space, with second floor offices modernised and partitioned in the late 20th century.

History

The first Lewis's store was established in 1856 on Ranelagh Street by David Lewis (born David Levy), a retailer and later philanthropist, as a men's and boys' clothing store. In 1864 women's clothing was incorporated, and the store expanded in the 1870s by adding further departments including shoes and tobacco. Other branches later opened in Manchester, Birmingham and Sheffield (all now closed), and Lewis's became England's first department store chain. After David Lewis's death, the business was taken over by Louis Cohen and subsequently Harold and Rex Cohen, who took the company public in 1924 and opened further stores in England and Scotland. In 1951 the Lewis group purchased Selfridges, London.

The original 19th-century store was replaced in stages from 1910 to 1923 to the classical designs of Gerald de Courcy Fraser, incorporating an adjacent building (the Watson Building) to the south-east along Renshaw Street for use as offices and storage. The store was mostly destroyed during the Liverpool Blitz of May 1941 and was redesigned as the present store in 1947 (constructed in the late 1940s and early 1950s), again to the designs of de Courcy Fraser and constructed by Fraser, Sons & Geary. Only part of the early 20th-century store survived the bombing (the Watson Building), and this was retained whilst the rest of the building was rebuilt in a more modern stripped classical style. To signify Liverpool's resurgence following the war years, a nude male sculpture and three bronze reliefs by Sir Jacob Epstein were incorporated into the new design.

After the Cohens, the Lewis's group had a succession of different owners before becoming part of the Sears Group, who remained in control until 1992 when Owen Owen took over. Owen Owen retained some stores to continue trading under the Lewis's brand name but sold other stores to other retail operators. After 2001, following the closure of the Manchester store, the Liverpool branch was the only store trading under the Lewis's name. Owen Owen went into administration in early 2007, and four of their stores, including Lewis's, were to be closed. Up until 1987 the whole store was operative, but with dwindling trade the top floors including the restaurants, hair and beauty salon, and the function room were closed off to the public, with only the basement, ground, first and second floors remaining in retail use. In 1959 a subway was created underneath Fairclough Street that linked Central Station with the basement of Lewis's. This still remains in use.

Significance

Lewis's is a major, prominently sited post-war department store in the stripped Classical style. The present building possesses imposing main elevations and a striking overall composition and massing that incorporates a giant bronze sculpture and ciment fondu reliefs by the internationally significant sculptor Sir Jacob Epstein, which represent Liverpool's resurgence after the war years. Combined with an interior that retains its original floor plan and features including unique Festival of Britain murals in the fifth floor restaurant, a decorative plaster relief in the former hair salon, all the original stone and marble stairs and some original lifts, Lewis's is a distinctive and now rare example of a little-altered early post-war department store with high quality architectural detailing.