Bridge, Ephesus

John Foster the Younger designed many important buildings in Liverpool, mainly in a Classical Revival style. The Custom House, an imposing Ionic building, was one of his greatest work until it was bombed during the Second World War and subsequently demolished. Foster designed the original St. John's Market, which was the first large-scale covered market in England. He also designed St James's Cemetery, below Liverpool Anglican Cathedral. Foster first travelled to Greece in 1809. In 1810 he met the architect and archaeologist, Charles Robert Cockerell (1788 - 1863), joining him to continue touring Europe. In 1811, Foster and Cockerell joined Carl Haller von Hallerstein (1774 - 1817) and his party to take part in excavations at Aegina and Phigaleia, as well as the Temple of Apollo at Bassae. Many of the sculptures discovered in these excavations were removed from Greece and taken to museums in Britain and Germany. Foster owned a series of copies of the Bassae marbles which he donated to the Liverpool Royal Institution. Foster eventually returned to England in 1816.