Exchange Flags
has been a centre for commerce in Liverpool for over 700 years. The Exchange
Buildings occupy the site of two earlier Exchanges. The first was built in
1803-8 by John Foster Sen., possibly with James Wyatt, in the Neoclassical
style. It was replaced in 1864-7 by a French Renaissance building by T H Wyatt.
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| Exchange Flags 1836 |
The present
building, designed by Gunton and Gunton, was adapted during the course of
construction, with the creation of a bomb-proof bunker in the basement of
Walker House (formerly Derby House) to house a military command headquarters.
From this facility, which became known as the Western Approaches Command
Headquarters, the campaign against the German submarine fleet in the Atlantic
during World War II was planned and directed, under the command of Admiral Sir
Max Horton who oversaw the Battle of the Atlantic, one of the pivotal campaigns
of the war.
In 1805,
Liverpool City Council resolved to commemorate Nelson's victory at the Battle
of Trafalgar by erecting a monument and voted to pay £1,000 towards its design
and construction. A public subscription fund was launched and within two months
a total of £8,930 (£610,000 as of 2014) had been reached; this included £750
from the underwriters at Lloyd's and £500 from the West India Association. It
was agreed that the monument should be located in a prominent site near the
Exchange. A competition for its design was arranged, and this was won by
Matthew Cotes Wyatt, son of James Wyatt, the contract being signed in 1809.
Matthew Wyatt was relatively inexperienced, and was assisted by Richard
Westmacott. The first stone was laid on 15 July 1812, and the monument was
unveiled on 21 October 1813, the eighth anniversary of Nelson's death. In 1866
the monument was moved to its present site in Exchange Flags to allow for an
extension to the Exchange Buildings, and the Westmorland stone base was
replaced by one in granite.
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| The War Memorial |
The War Memorial
in Exchange Flags was funded by subscriptions raised among members of the
Liverpool Royal Exchange Company and was designed in 1916, initially dedicated
to those members of the company and their sons who had enlisted. By the time of
the final unveiling in 1924 it had also become a memorial to the war dead of
the Liverpool Exchange Newsroom and their sons. In 1953 the memorial was moved
to its present location from the old Exchange News Room, and placed between
piers supporting stone sculptures by Siegfried Charoux. The figures of a family
were designed at the express wish of the directors of the Liverpool Exchange
Company in order to bring in some reference to the civilian war effort.
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| W.W.1 War Memorial being relocated on Exchange Flags by Wolfendens in1953. © Graham Newell |
Exchange
Buildings is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
It contains the
bunker housing the World War II military command headquarters known as Western
Approaches Command Headquarters. The Battle of the Atlantic, one of the pivotal
campaigns of the war, was planned and directed from the Western Approaches
Command Headquarters in Liverpool, making it of national historic interest. The
bronze war memorial by Joseph Phillips was begun in 1916 and is arguably the
first ever World War I memorial. The memorial is a well-planned and executed
composition, both heroic, with the depiction of armed service men culminating
in a triumphant figure of Britannia at its apex, and humane, with the inclusion
of a small girl and a nurse tending a wounded soldier. The memorial is set in a
purpose-designed niche in the centre of the main south elevation, flanked by
engaged columns supporting stone sculptures by Seigfried Charoux, and facing
the Grade II. Nelson Monument in the centre of Exchange Flags.
Links
Sources
Liverpool Central Library
Liverpool Records Office
National Archives
Wolfended Photograos
Graham Newell
Robert F Edwards
S Edwards
