94-104, SEEL STREET

A terrace of six three-storey houses built about 1800, each originally with two rooms per floor and a basement. The buildings are constructed in brick with painted stone sills and stone wedge lintels beneath slate roofs.

The terrace presents a linear, uniform facade to Seel Street. Each house is two bays wide. The ground and first floors retain surviving early sash windows with glazing bars and three over four panes, while the upper floor windows have three over two panes. Front doors are reached by short flights of steps. Properties at 94, 96 and 104 have flanking iron railings. A single segmental brick arch with a modern fanlight spans the entrance to 94 and 96, which share modern panelled front doors. A modern panelled front door has been inserted at 98, matching the style at 94 and 96. The remaining properties retain ornate early fanlights and doorcases with panelled pilasters. Later sash windows have been inserted in the first floor of 94. Property 102 has a modern shop front at ground level with metal shutters obscuring the windows. Business signage is affixed to the ground floor of 104, which also has iron railings. Tall chimney stacks with four pots are present on all properties except 94. The rear elevations of 94 to 98 have been entirely rebuilt with modern windows and doors. Casement windows have been inserted into 100 to 104, and the upper parts of the rear walls have been largely rebuilt.

Internally, properties 94 to 98 have been converted into student rooms. Basements have been modernised for washing, drying and storage. Ground floor front rooms serve as communal living spaces. Property 96 retains full-length early timber window shutters and 98 has half-length examples. Rear ground floors function as kitchens. The original two rooms per floor on upper storeys have been subdivided into four rooms per floor. Early features surviving include door and window surrounds, staircases with balusters and handrails, and hallway arches with moulded corbels at the springing point.

Property 100 retains more early features than its neighbours, including numerous doors, door and window surrounds, fire surrounds, a relatively complete early staircase and skylight, and some cornicing. Property 102 has a modernised kitchen but retains some early features elsewhere, including a basement fire range, the staircase, panelling to the ground floor staircase, and a basement door surround. The ground floor of 102 has been converted into offices. Property 104 has fewer surviving early features but retains some original elements.

The terrace was built about 1800 as part of Liverpool's period of wealth and residential expansion. Around 1980, the rear elevations of 94 to 98 were rebuilt. During the 1980s these three properties were converted into student accommodation with four rooms provided per floor, and new front doors were added along with a new fanlight to properties 94 and 96. At unspecified dates, the ground floor of 102 was converted into an antique shop and the ground floor of 104 into offices for a travel and insurance agency.