The Oratory is a Grade I listed building in the Liverpool local planning authority area, England. First listed on 28 June 1952. A C19 Chapel, mortuary chapel. 2 related planning applications.
The Oratory
- WRENN ID
- keen-solder-umber
- Grade
- I
- Local Planning Authority
- Liverpool
- Constituency
- Liverpool Riverside MP: Kim Johnson (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 28 June 1952
- Type
- Chapel, mortuary chapel
- Period
- C19
- Address
- The Oratory, Upper Duke Street, L1 7AZ
- OS grid reference
- SJ 353 895
- Coordinates
- 53.39876, -2.97323
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Oratory is a former mortuary chapel to St. James Cemetery, located on a steep rocky hill. It was built in 1829 by John Foster and is designed in the style of a miniature Greek Doric temple, featuring an amphiprostyle layout with hexastyle porticos on a stylobate. The building has a stone tiled roof with a flat skylight and decorative antefixae. The entrance includes a moulded architrave, panelled double doors, a rectangular fanlight, and glazing bars. Inside, there is a peristyle of Ionic columns and a central skylight. The chapel houses a notable collection of early 19th-century monuments, including works by J. Gibson and Sir G. Chantrey, as well as a statue of Huskisson by J. Gibson, which was originally taken from the Customs House on South Castle Street or Canning Place. The Oratory is recognized as one of the purest examples of the Great Revival in England. It was restored in 1981 and is now used as a sculpture gallery.
Local climate
The Oratory sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,080 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 86% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 75% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 19 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 81% of listed buildings. Of these, 9 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 2 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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