A Liverpool Exemplar - John Weightman

John Weightman was born in London in 1798 and came to Liverpool at the age of 26 to take up a position as a draughtsman for the Borough Surveyor John Foster. He rose through the ranks to become chief draughtsman in 1831, but a couple of years later left the corporation to work on the Grand Junction Railway, connecting Liverpool with Birmingham. In January 1848 he returned to Liverpool and took on the post of Borough Surveyor, succeeding Joseph Franklin who himself had taken over from John Foster. His appointment caused considerable debate as his annual salary of £1,000 was £300 more than the man he replaced. He took the post on the condition that he relinquished all his private interests and it was noted by the Liverpool Mail that in doing so he stood to lose up to £2,000 per year. Work had begun on the imposing neoclassical public building of St George's Hall in 1841 by 25-year-old Harvey Lonsdale Elmes who then died prematurely in 1847, and the task of overseeing the Hall's completion initially fell to the new corporation surveyor John Weightman and structural engineer and Elmes' friend, Robert Rawlinson. This was until C. R. Cockerell took over as architect in 1851 as John found this work too time consuming

John's first major project in the 1850s was to design the new Bridewell, the Magistrates Court and Fire Station. The Bridewell consisted of ninety cells and allowed the police to deal with the increasing volume of crime in the growing town. It still stands as a Grade II listed building described by English Heritage as one of the best examples of a 1850s penal building. Liverpool Prison (originally known as Walton Gaol) was also constructed to John's designs between 1848 and 1855 to replace an 18th-century establishment in the centre of Liverpool which had become too small for current needs and originally housed male and female inmates.

At the end of the decade he designed The William Brown Library and Museum which is a Grade II listed building situated on the historic William Brown Street in Liverpool. The building currently houses part of the World Museum Liverpool and Liverpool Central Library. The William Brown Library and Museum building was conceived as a replacement for the Derby Museum (containing the Earl of Derby's natural history collection) which then shared two rooms on the city's Duke Street with a library. The land for the building, on what was then called Shaw's Brow, as well as much of the funding was provided by local MP and merchant Sir William Brown, 1st Baronet of Astrop, in whose honour the street was renamed. Following on from the then recently completed St. George's Hall across the street, the new building was designed by Thomas Allom in a classical style including Corinthian columns but was modified by John Weightman to save money. Allom's winning scheme was too costly and so John produced a revised design, with William Brown offering to meet the cost. Thomas Allom had proposed an Italianate facade with much sculpture but John produced a broadly similar six column Corinthian portico in the mould of St George's Hall.
The Central Library opened its doors in 1860 with 400,000 people attending the opening ceremony including John as one of the main guests, attending in the Mayor's chariot. The William Brown Museum, renamed the Liverpool Free Public Museum, opened to the public exactly a year later on the 18th of October 1861.

The Municipal Building

The Municipal Building on Dale Street, Liverpool was constructed between 1862 - 1868 in French and Italian Renaissance style architecture by architect John Weightman and finished by architect Edward Robert Robson in 1868. This beautiful Grade II listed building was constructed for the town council to accommodate their growing number of office staff. The three storey building has a lead roof, balconies and clock tower with five bells where sixteen sandstone figures represent the arts, science and industry of Liverpool as well as the continents of Asia, Africa, Europe and America. The four quarter bells are hung for English-style 'Change Ringing' and a two-stage pyramidal spire is situated on the top of the tower which is visible throughout the city. When John retired in 1865 it left his successor E.R. Robson to oversee completion and make some tweaks to the design of a building described by the Liverpool Mercury as 'second only to St. George's Hall in the town in terms of architectural merit'. This would be John's last major works.

Although he retired from his position, John remained in local government as an Alderman and also served as a Justice of the Peace. He remained living at his home in 39 Hope Street where he passed away in August 1883, just three months after his wife died. He was buried in Toxteth Cemetery but his grave is no longer in the best of condition with the gravestone laid down for health and safety reasons.

see also:- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2021/09/a-liverpool-exemplar-lucy-walker.html