Waiting Room, Bootle Station

Waiting Room, Bootle Station

This waiting room stands on the west side of the railway track and was built in 1873 to a design likely by Paley & Austin. It is a single-storey structure of timber framing clad with weatherboarding, set upon a red sandstone plinth, with a slate roof and red sandstone chimney stack.

The building has a long rectangular plan divided into four structural bays by principal posts. The south end bay contains an enclosed ladies' waiting room, while the remaining three bays form a larger waiting room that is partially open-fronted onto the platform. A narrower former lavatory outshot, now represented only by its stone plinth and fragmentary remains, abuts the north end.

The plinth comprises two rows of squared red sandstone blocks with chamfering to the upper row. Above this sits a bolted timber frame of vertical posts with sill plate, low rail, wall plate and weatherboarding infill. The double-pitched slate roof features deep overhanging eaves on extended rafters, supported by cast-iron gutters and downpipes.

The east elevation facing the platform is symmetrical. The two outer end bays are weatherboarded, each with a large central window framed by posts and the low rail. The ladies' waiting room window has a timber cross frame with opaque textured glass, while the outer waiting room window has a timber mullion and transom arrangement with four smaller panes over two large panes with clear glazing (now partly obscured by a modern station sign). The two central bays are open to the platform, with the roof extended to form a pentice. This pentice is supported by posts at each end and a central post carrying a timber wall plate and heavier principal rafters. The posts are squared, chamfered and stopped, with outward-facing decorative brackets supporting a similarly finished rail.

The south gable wall displays bolted decorative timber framing. The outer corner posts and projecting rail have shaped corbels, while curved braces above form a semi-circular shape enclosing a pattern of vertical and diagonal studs. The gable apex originally carried a turned timber finial and pendant (now missing). A vertical window between two posts features a timber frame with two smaller upper panes over a single large pane, with opaque textured glass.

The north gable wall is similarly framed with bolted decorative timber work, though it has lost its finial and pendant. Two windows separated by a post each have timber frames with two smaller upper panes over a single large pane with clear glazing.

The rear elevation is blind weatherboarding with no openings. Towards the right-hand corner stands a tall rectangular chimney stack of squared red sandstone blocks with chamfered and stopped corners to the apex and coping, serving the ladies' waiting room.

The remains of the former lavatory outshot are visible where a stone plinth abuts the right-hand side of the north gable wall, marking its original footprint. Only the front wall plinth survives, showing an entrance at its right-hand end. The rear wall has a timber post scarred for a matching post, with fragmentary horizontal boarding attached. Similar boarding once existed to the north but has largely disappeared.

The roof structure comprises bolted collared rafters with bolted curved braces supporting the heavier principal rafters. Wall panels are framed with timber beading. The cross wall separating the ladies' waiting room has a central doorway with a vertically boarded door and rectangular two-pane overlight. The open-fronted waiting room has a tiled floor of offset small orange and black ceramic tiles, with fixed timber benching against the back wall and the enclosed section of the front wall. The interior of the ladies' waiting room is not documented.