A Liverpool Exemplar - Peter Ellis

40 Falkner Square

 

Peter Ellis was born on 1 August 1805 at Shaw's Brow on what is now William-Brown Street. The family moved to Primrose Hill in 1807 where Peter's father was involved in the construction of courts, and then to Gloucester Street (now buried beneath Lime Street Station) in 1811 where his father worked with other builders in developing the area. In 1822 they moved to Low Hill and it was whilst living there that Peter subsequently met Mary Helen Syers, who was living in Everton Village, and whom he married in 1836. Whilst they were living in Sandon Street Peter submitted designs for the 1839 St George's Hall competition, subsequently won by Harvey Lonsdale Elmes. In 1843 Peter acquired a lease upon which he built 78 Canning Street and in the following year he obtained a lease on neighbouring land upon which he built what became 40 Falkner Square, the house in which he and Mary lived for the remainder of Peter's life and on which an English Heritage Blue Plaque is now sited.

Oriel Chambers

In the early 1860s Peter moved offices, briefly to Bank Buildings and then for a longer period to Orange Court (they lay on opposite sides of Castle Street), and it was in 1863 that a fire destroyed offices and a warehouse at the junction of Water Street and Covent Garden. The building was owned by Rev. Thomas Anderson and it was from him that Peter received the commission to design Oriel Chambers, the fire-proof replacement that was constructed upon the site between1864 and 1865. It is considered by many architectural historians as one of the most influential buildings of its time and is certainly one of Liverpool’s most striking structures. It is said to be the first office building in the world to make extensive use of glazed curtain wall construction, having an extensively glazed façade supported from an iron frame. Oriel Chambers is an example of his radical rejection of traditional styles and materials and was an attempt to resolve the problem of lighting in offices. Although it received criticism in certain quarters, Quentin Hughes in 'Liverpool: City of Architecture' describes it as the "most significant office building in Liverpool and one of the most important buildings in the world because, stylistically and structurally, it foreshadows by many years the work of the Modern Movement in architecture."

16 Cook Street

Whilst still at Orange Court, Peter was commissioned by the accountants Paterson and Thomas to design 16 Cook Street in1866 to1868, also a replacement for a pre-existing building and which became one of the first in the world to feature a metal-framed glass curtain wall. Although it is a lesser building than Oriel Chambers it is no less interesting in its expansive use of glass and, particularly, the magnificent glazed cast-iron staircase in its courtyard, an idea successfully exported to Chicago and used in early skyscrapers.

Peter Ellis is a great enigma but he is regarded as one of the great architects of the modern movement. It is said he was so hurt by the criticism of his two buildings that he never designed another and continued with his other job as a surveyor. Although Peter practised for a further eighteen years after the Cook Street commission, his entry in the 1867 edition of 'Gore's Directory of Liverpool' describes him as both architect and civil engineer, whilst in the 1884 directory the term 'civil engineer' precedes architect', which suggests he had succumbed to some of the negative comments. He is also credited with the invention of the Paternoster Lift which has no doors and moves continually in a loop without stopping at floor level, moving slowly up and down inside a building with passengers stepping on or off at any floor they like.

He moved his office from Orange Court to Oriel Chambers in 1871, and it was there that he continued to practice as an architect, valuer, surveyor and civil engineer until his death at the age of 79 at his home at 40 Falkner Square on the 20th of October 1884. He was buried in Toxteth Cemetery on the 23rd of October, and the Liverpool Daily Post the following day carried a warm tribute to him, "...The deceased gentleman was held in high esteem by the members of his own profession and solicitors and others with whom he had business relations...Mr. Ellis, for more than half a century, was at the head of the leading practice in his way of business in Liverpool, and was ever ready with his kindly advice to those who sought it." 

see also:- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2020/10/a-liverpool-exemplar-anne-clough.html?q=Fanny