Liverpool Cathedral (built 1904-1978)

Liverpool Cathedral (built 1904-1978)

Church exterior

Sir Giles Gilberts Scott’s work on Liverpool Cathedral exemplifies his philosophy concerning the design of monumental buildings, while demonstrating his ability to merge traditional design with modern materials and aesthetics. The cathedral explores modern design without losing the positive aspects of Gothic design – its command of ornament and its use of monumental scale and sublimity to invoke religiosity. 

Liverpool Cathedral also reveals Scott’s particular philosophy concerning the relationship between history of ecclesiastical architecture and its utility. Generally, his work on cathedrals is considered to balance old and new, “partially a revival of Gothic or Romanesque or early Christian sufficient to give a certain stylistic character, yet modified by considerations of better fulfillment of purpose and study of modern needs."[1] In the case of Liverpool Cathedral, he “endeavors to give a classic breadth to his designs,” while attempting “original variations on his main architectural theme,”[2] a style highly regarded by many as one that fuses distinct architectural styles and time periods into a happy medium. A 1926 compilation book of Cathedrals in Great Britain describes Scott’s work as “a free interpretation of fourteenth-century Gothic, possessing classic simplicity and symmetry of design,” and compares his neo-Gothic Liverpool Cathedral to the designs of his father and grandfather.

            In addition to its balance of Medieval Gothic elements and new design techniques, the massive scale of the structure can be use to relate the architecture of the building to the Divine, through the use of the sublime. With a total length 619 feet and an area measuring 104,274 square feet, Liverpool Cathedral is one of the largest ecclesiastical structures in the world, only second in length to St. Peter’s Basilica and more than double the size in area of Westminster Abbey.[3] To emphasize this sense of immensity, Scott exaggerated the interior proportions of the Cathedral and chose not to divide the floor to ceiling height with multiple levels, with the interior structure’s towering arches and thick columns dwarfing its inhabitants. This massive scale, and the detailing used to emphasize it, links the building’s structure to the concept of sublimity.

Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (1880-1960)

Own image