Albany (Liverpool)

Listed building in Liverpool, England

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Albany" Liverpool – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

|

Albany Building

The building in 2010

General information
Location| Old Hall Street, Liverpool, England
Coordinates| 53°24′31″N 2°59′33″W﻿ / ﻿53.4087°N 2.9926°W﻿ / 53.4087; -2.9926
Year(s) built| 1856
Client| Richard Naylor
Design and construction
Architect(s)| J. K. Colling
Designations|

Listed Building – Grade II*

Official name| The Albany
Designated| 12 July 1966
Reference no.| 1208630

The Albany Building is a 19th-century Grade II* listed building on Old Hall Street in Liverpool, England. Originally built as a meeting place for cotton brokers, it has since been converted into apartments.[1]

## History

[edit]

The Albany Building is located on Old Hall Street, at the western edge of Liverpool's city centre, and a short walk from Moorfields rail station. Constructed in 1856 at the height of the city's expansion, it is one of Liverpool's most highly regarded works of architecture. The Albany Building was built under the instruction of local banker and racehorse owner Richard Naylor and designed by J. K. Colling. It was built as a meeting place for cotton brokers and contained offices, meeting rooms, and warehousing facilities in the basement. It is one of the earliest examples of Victorian offices in Liverpool. The central courtyard is uncovered and provides good mutual light for the brokers to examine their cotton samples.[2] The building gained Grade II* listed status on 12 July 1966.[3] During the 1970s to 1980s, it was mainly used as offices, warehousing, and storage. The building was sympathetically renovated and converted into apartments in 2004–05.[4]

The Albany comprises 137 apartments in total, made up of two and three-bedroom luxury apartments and penthouses. The building has a 24-hour concierge service and features a bespoke car parking stacker system designed and installed by Wöhr Parking, using a short space to store 84 cars. The courtyard can be seen through the glass doors from the street and has the largest outdoor Swarovski crystal chandeliers in Europe.

## Architecture

[edit]

The building is three storeys plus a basement, and its front on Old Hall Street has eleven bays. The basement is constructed in rusticated granite, the ground floor in rusticated ashlar, and the upper storeys in brick with stone dressings. The round-arched entrance is in the central bay and consists of a granite surround with a keystone, carvings in the spandrels. Over this is a frieze and a segmental pediment. The ground floor windows are three-light sashes, with segmental heads and keystones. Above the windows is a cornice. The first-floor windows also have segmental heads, containing carved archivolts and tympana. The windows on the top floor are smaller, with stone architraves and keystones. Along the top of the building is a carved frieze, a cornice supported by brackets, and a balustraded parapet.[1] The side elevations are plainer and still include cast-iron cranes. The main entrance contains the original cast iron gates.[4] Inside is a coffered and barrel vaulted passage leading to the central courtyard, containing red granite columns and decorated with elaborate plasterwork.[1]

## In popular culture

[edit]

The Albany was used in the filming of the China Miéville TV adaptation The City & the City. Ormond Street is a popular spot for filming and the building has appeared in several recent TV productions, The Ipcress File, The Irregulars,[5] The Five and The Curse.

## Gallery

[edit]

* Wall crane and gate in the iron railings, to the basement warehouse below

* The Albany's entrance

* The Albany's courtyard

## See also

[edit]

* Architecture of Liverpool
* Grade II* listed buildings in Liverpool – City Centre
* Grade II* listed buildings in Merseyside

## References

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Albany, Old Hall Street.

1. ^ a b c Historic England, "The Albany, Liverpool (1208630)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 27 June 2013
2. ^ Pye, Ken (2011), Discover Liverpool, Liverpool: Trinity Mirror Media, p. 81, ISBN 978-1-906802-90-5
3. ^ Historic England. "The Albany (1208630)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 27 June 2025.
4. ^ a b Pollard, Richard; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2006), Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, pp. 328–329, ISBN 0-300-10910-5
5. ^ Flaherty, Jess (5 February 2020). "Netflix The Irregulars Liverpool film shoot takes street back to Victorian times". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 27 June 2025.

* v
* t
* e

Buildings and structures in Liverpool, England

Skyscrapers
and highrises|

* 1 Princes Dock
* Alexandra Tower
* Beetham Tower
* The Lexington
* Municipal Buildings
* New Hall Place
* The Plaza
* Port of Liverpool Building
* Post & Echo Building
* Radio City Tower
* Royal Liver Building
* Unity Commercial
* Unity Residential
* West Tower

Notable lowrises|

* Albert Dock
* Traffic Office
* Alder Hey Children's Hospital
* Atlantic Tower
* Bank of England
* Bluecoat Chambers
* Britannia Adelphi Hotel
* Calderstones House
* Chinese Arch
* County Sessions House
* Crowne Plaza LJLA
* Cunard Building
* Empire Theatre
* Everton Water Tower
* Everyman Theatre, Liverpool
* Grand Central Hall
* Great North Western Hotel
* Hargreaves Building
* Homeopathic Hospital
* India Buildings
* International Slavery Museum
* James Parsons Building
* Liverpool Central Library
* Liverpool Cotton Exchange Building
* Liverpool Magistrates' Court
* Liverpool Playhouse
* Liverpool Town Hall
* Liverpool Women's Hospital
* The Lyceum
* Malmaison
* Mann Island Buildings
* Merseyside Maritime Museum
* Museum of Liverpool
* National Conservation Centre
* One Park West
* Oratory
* Oriel Chambers
* Philharmonic Dining Rooms
* Philharmonic Hall
* Prudential Assurance Building
* Queen Elizabeth II Law Courts
* Royal Court Theatre
* Royal Insurance Building
* Royal Liverpool University Hospital
* Speke Hall
* Stanley Dock Tobacco Warehouse
* St George's Hall
* Tate Liverpool
* Tower Buildings
* Victoria Building
* Walker Art Gallery
* Wheel of Liverpool
* White Star Building
* Woolton Hall
* World Museum Liverpool

Places of worship|

* All Saints' Church
* Al-Rahma Mosque
* Church of All Hallows
* Church of Our Lady and St Nicholas
* Church of St Agnes and St Pancras
* Church of St Clare
* German Church
* Greek Orthodox Church of St Nicholas
* Gustav Adolf Church
* Liverpool Cathedral
* Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral
* Norwegian Fishermans' Church
* Old Christ Church
* The Oratory
* Princes Road Synagogue
* St George's Church
* St John the Baptist's Church
* St Luke's Church
* St Luke's Church, Walton
* St Michael's Church
* St Peter's Church
* Toxteth Unitarian Chapel
* Ullet Road Unitarian Church
* Welsh Presbyterian Church

Transportation|

* James Street station
* Kingsway Tunnel
* Liverpool Central station
* Liverpool Coach Station
* Liverpool John Lennon Airport
* Liverpool Lime Street station
* Liverpool One bus station
* Liverpool South Parkway station
* Mersey Railway Tunnel
* Moorfields station
* Queensway Tunnel

Shopping complexes|

* Clayton Square Shopping Centre
* Lewis's Building
* Liverpool ONE
* Liverpool Shopping Park
* Metquarter
* New Mersey Shopping Park
* St Johns Shopping Centre

Sports venues
and arenas|

* Aigburth Cricket Ground
* Anfield
* Goodison Park
* Liverpool Arena
* O2 Academy Liverpool
* Walton Hall Park
* Wavertree Athletics Centre
* Hill Dickinson Stadium

Sculptures
and monuments|

* Liverpool Cenotaph
* Nelson Monument
* Steble Fountain
* Superlambanana
* Titanic Memorial
* Victoria Monument
* Wellington's Column
* Yellow Submarine

Notable demolished|

* Childwall Hall
* Concourse House
* Custom House
* The Futurist Cinema
* Liverpool Castle
* Liverpool Central High Level railway station
* Liverpool Sailors' Home
* Liverpool Overhead Railway
* Octagon Chapel
* St Peter's Church
* St John's Market
* Walton Hall

Lists|

* List of public art in Liverpool
* List of tallest buildings and structures in Liverpool
* Listed buildings in Liverpool

* Category
* Commons

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template