# Cunard Buildings Basements.Liverpool 8-10



## kevsy21 (Sep 1, 2010)

The Cunard Building is a Grade II* listed building located in Liverpool, England. It is sited at the Pier Head and along with the neighbouring Liver Building and Port of Liverpool Building is one of Liverpool's Three Graces, which line the city's waterfront.
It was designed by William Edward Willink and Philip Coldwell Thicknesse and was constructed between 1914 and 1917. The building's style is a mix of Italian Renaissance and Greek Revival, and its development has been particularly influenced by Italian palace design.
The building was, from its construction until the 1960s, the headquarters of Cunard Line, and the building retains the name of its original tenants. It was also home to Cunard's passenger facilities for trans-Atlantic journeys that departed from Liverpool.
One of the most notable features of the Cunard Building are the large basement and sub-basement levels that initially acted as storage facilities for both the Company's property and also the luggage of passengers. Coal was also stored in the basement, with a small railway track providing a link to the boiler room, which was used to heat the building. Many original features of the basement still exist, including the timber baggage racks, ship logs and other maritime documents. Several secure vaults, which in the past were used to store the most valuable passenger items, are still used today to hold historic documents, drawings and blueprints relating to the Cunard Building and also some of Cunard's Liners, such as the RMS Queen Mary.
Visited with Georgie.
This was not an official tour.





Basement store rooms.The railway track ran down the centre of the corridor.




George's Dock Wall,part of the original dock the building was built over.




The secure vaults room, each one sealed by a safe door - where valuable passenger luggage would be stored.










One of the vaults contained loads of memorabilia.



















Original Cunard White Star soap




The general baggage and stores area located just beyond the vaults.









Some of the racks still retain the names of the ships which served Liverpool.














The sub-basement of the Cunard Building was utilised throughout the Second World War as an air raid shelter for not only the occupiers of the building, but also the staff of the adjacent office buildings. The original signs are still visible along the reinforced steel joist’s which were installed to add to the strength of the shelter.
The shelter covers the full length and width of the sub basement.


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## georgie (Sep 1, 2010)

ive said it before and ill say it again this is the best thing ive had the privilage to explore under liverpool top pics


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## kevsy21 (Sep 1, 2010)

georgie said:


> ive said it before and ill say it again this is the best thing ive had the privilage to explore under liverpool top pics



It was a cracking place to see,wouldnt mind a revist one day.


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## DogRecon (Sep 2, 2010)

Thats some niiiiice work there.


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## Foxylady (Sep 4, 2010)

What a fantastic explore. Such amazing things still remaining.
I was particularly interested in the George Dock area. There's a story about a Liverpuddlian dock called King George V that was handed down from my Grandad, but I've never been able to find one in Liverpool. So maybe this is the dock that was referred to. Just been googling about it, but the opening age doesn't fit. Hmm.
Great stuff, guys.


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## Seahorse (Sep 4, 2010)

At the risk of sounding crude, nice pic of the Seaman's Discharge book.


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## jhluxton (Sep 5, 2010)

Readers of this thread may be interested in a collection of photos which I posted to my Irish Sea Shipping web site following a tour of the building in September 2009. These offer further views to those in this thread.

http://www.irishseashipping.com/heritage/subsite/england/cunardbuild260909/cunardbuild260909.htm


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## kevsy21 (Sep 5, 2010)

Thanks for the comments,it was an interesting place.
I have a lot more pics on my photobucket of the place.


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## georgie (Sep 5, 2010)

jhluxton said:


> Readers of this thread may be interested in a collection of photos which I posted to my Irish Sea Shipping web site following a tour of the building in September 2009. These offer further views to those in this thread.
> 
> http://www.irishseashipping.com/heritage/subsite/england/cunardbuild260909/cunardbuild260909.htm



thats good iss but i have all these photos on my photobucket account already


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## freebird (Sep 5, 2010)

Great pics and what a fantastic place! Love it.


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## kevsy21 (Sep 25, 2010)

A few roof pics.


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## Foxylady (Sep 26, 2010)

Ah, the Liver Birds. Been a long time since I saw those. Nice pics.


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