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СпутникиРНSpaceXРоскосмосNASALiverpool's Royal Liver Building is celebrating its 115th birthday today
Today marks the 115th birthday of one of Liverpool’s most iconic buildings'. Once dubbed Britain's first 'skyscraper,' the Liver Building opened on July 19, 1911, and is Grade I-listed and 98m tall. Designed by W Aubrey Thomas, the building was one of the earliest examples of a multi-storey concrete building ever erected and cost £533,000 to build, which is more than £60million in today’s money.
One of the Three Graces, along with The Cunard Building and The Port of Liverpool Building, it is famous for being part of the iconic skyline our city is renowned for.
Founded on July 24, 1850, by nine working-class men at the Lyver Inn on St Anne Street, The Liverpool Lyver Burial Society was created to provide a dignified burial fund for deceased working-class members. By the end of the 1890s, the decision was made to build what would become the Royal Liver Building as a purpose-built home for the society.
Construction began in 1907 on the building, which would be the workplace for 6,000 employees of the Royal Liver Group. However, by the 1970s the Royal Liver Building was in desperate need of repair. Royal Liver considered selling it, but instead it refurbished the building from top to bottom.
Royal Liver was hit by the global financial crash of 2008 and subsequent recession, and eventually joined merger talks with rival Royal London. The deal was agreed in 2011, and the remaining Royal Liver staff moved to Royal London’s Cheshire base the following year, when the Royal Liver name disappeared.
In October 2016, the building was put up for sale for the first time in its history, with a Luxembourg-based investment group, Corestate Capital, along with former Everton F.C. majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri buying it for £48 million in February 2017.
In 2025, the Liver Building changed hands once more, when its long-term tenant, Princes Group, bought the property for £60 million.
Today, people can take a tour of the iconic Royal Liver Building with the visitor attraction Royal Liver Building 360, which offers access to the West Clock Tower.
To mark the famous building's milestone, we’ve created a list of interesting events that have taken place there.
The clockface banquetThe clocks themselves, made by Gent & Co., form a unique part of the Liver Building's storied history. Known as the George clocks, they were set in motion at precisely 1.40pm on June 22, 1911, when Prince George Frederick Ernest Albert Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was officially crowned King George V.
To celebrate the construction of the clocks, one of the four faces was turned into a vast banqueting table for senior members of the Liver Assurance Group and Liverpool Corporation. Before the clock was officially set into the building, these dignitaries enjoyed a huge four-course meal.
It included mock turtle soup - a grisly concoction of the brains, organs, and head of a calf, thought to mimic the texture and taste of turtle meat.
Other meat dishes served on the Liver Building clock face were breaded mutton cutlets, galantine of turkey (stuffed turkey), pressed beef (a side of beef that was cured and boiled before being pressed under heavy weights) and dry-cured York ham.
This was followed by "a trifle larger than Big Ben" - a reference to the impressive size of the Liver Building's clock faces which are even bigger than the London landmark's.
After the meal, the "Time Table" was cleared, and the guests had the opportunity of closely inspecting the clock mechanism in the hall.
The donkey openingFor years, a tale has been repeated of a famous Liverpool donkey who was the guest of honour at the opening of the building in 1911, and who officially opened it by chewing through the ribbon, which had been slathered in peanut butter.
So pervasive has the story been that Google’s AI Gemini will tell you that Judy the Donkey did, in fact, open the Liver Building. But is this story true? Judy was so famous that two newspapers carried stories about her death in 1926. So beloved was Judy by the people of Toxteth that a memorial was erected in her memory in Princes Park, paid for by the community.
Laura Prior, chair of the Friends of Princes Park, told the ECHO: "Judy was well-loved and very famous in Liverpool.
"The story is that they wanted to get someone well-known to open the Liver Building, and they got Judy. The ribbon was covered in peanut butter, and she chewed through it." However there are good reasons to think that the story is, sadly, not true.
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An underground social club loved by thousands of workers was once opened beneath the Royal Liver Building.
Back in the day, when going for a pint or two during dinner was part of working culture, staff would head to the Royal Liver Social Club, situated in the basement of the Grade I listed building.
Two entrances, one from inside the Liver Building itself, and a flight of metal stairs on Water Street, would lead staff to a small bar, where they could grab a drink or have a game of pool before heading back to work.
The club was formed by the Board of Directors of the Royal Liver Friendly Society in the early 1980’s, to accommodate the especially social organisation.
Originally exclusive to Royal Liver Staff, it was later opened up to staff from other tenants in the building and by members of the public for special occasions, with permission of the Social Club Committee.
The Royal Liver Social Club was open a few days in the week, during lunch and after work and was incredibly popular, particularly on paydays.
The social club closed in the early noughties and in 2004 became Bartells Café Bar, in memory of Carl Bartells, the designer of the original Liver Birds in 1911.
The legendary Liver BirdsThe Liver Bird has been a symbol of the city for over 800 years. It is thought to have originated in 1207 when King John was granted a Royal Charter to register Liverpool as a borough. He needed a unique seal to differentiate documents and sterling from his territory and chose a bird to feature as part of his crest.
The two birds stand atop the Royal Liver Building and are named Bella and Bertie. One is female and the other male, but nobody knows where the names originate from.
Bella looks out to sea to ensure the boats arrive safely into port while Bertie keeps his watchful eye on the city, protecting the citizens of Liverpool.
The birds are made from copper and stand 18ft tall and have a wingspan of 24ft.
Hollywood filmingThe waterfront building was prominently featured on the big screen as a stand-in for the Gotham City Police Department headquarters in the 2022 DC Comics film, The Batman.
Liverpool's skyline doubled as the towers of Gotham City for this major production, which starred Twilight actor Robert Pattinson as the legendary DC Comics hero.