Liverpool Cathedral

CPD: 30 Minutes: Kevin Mc Cloud's UK Superstructures: Liverpool Cathedral : Discovery Science

by Simon Zohhadi on Monday, 20 September 2010 at 18:29 ·

 

20th Century Building: Liverpool Anglican Cathedral - Britain's last gothic cathedral. Architect: Giles Gilbert Scott a Roman Catholic (only 22 years old). Scott also designed Battersea Power Station & Red Telephone Box (check) . Supervised by Bodlee - caused conflict. However, Bodlee died early in the construction after Chapel was almost complete.

Current Maintenance Team: 1 Stonemason on building. Roadwork and scaffolding.

60 Years ago during construction there were 300 Stonemasons at busiest time. No health & safety. 6 people fell off building and were killed during construction. No rails to scaffolding.
Red Sandstone (2 million cubic feet) taken from local quarry. Scott wanted cathedral to look medieval and insisted on using medieval techniques. All stonework to be carried out by hand.
Grand entrance through West Door. Huge interior. Highest gothic arches ever built. Construction started from East end. 1903 Foundations began. Scott was interested in height (higher and lighter).
1934 Work on Bell Tower started. Bell tower weighs 26,000 tonnes and appears to be supported by the 4 huge arches. Entire lower level including smaller towers act as a butress to support the Bell Tower. The bells weigh over 30 tonnes. Great George Bell weighs 14.5 tonnes and is the third heaviest in the world. Bells supported by steel and concrete.
Work never stopped during construction.
Height of Cathedral = 330 feet.
Completed: 1978 (17 years after Scott's death). Contract Period: 1901 - 1978.