Oriel Chambers

Oriel Chambers is a Grade 1 Listed Building located on Water Street, near to the town hall in Liverpool, England. The building, a work by Peter Ellis, was built in 1864 and comprises 43,000 sq ft (4,000 m) set over five floors. The building was the world's first metal framed glass curtain walled building. Oriel Chambers, and the architect's only other known building at 16 Cook Street, are amongst the city's precursors of modernist architecture. H... more

Oriel Chambers is a Grade 1 Listed Building located on Water Street, near to the town hall in Liverpool, England. The building, a work by Peter Ellis, was built in 1864 and comprises 43,000 sq ft (4,000 m) set over five floors. The building was the world's first metal framed glass curtain walled building. Oriel Chambers, and the architect's only other known building at 16 Cook Street, are amongst the city's precursors of modernist architecture. However its simplified forms and large windows meant that the building initially courted controversy, being described as "an agglomeration of great glass bubbles" and even "a great abortion" which led to the disheartened Ellis abandoning architecture. Today it looks a little different, combining its period architecture with a 1950s extension, which was added to the building after it was bombed during World War II. In more recent times, the building was purchased from DCT Developments by Bruntwood for just over £5 million on 17 March 2006.... less