St George's Hall, Liverpool - Interior During Erection

St George's Hall is one of Liverpool's most important and distinctive civic buildings. The original architect, Harvey Lonsdale Elmes, died in 1847, so the building was completed by Charles Robert Cockerell (1788 - 1863). Goodchild was Cockerell's assistant and he painted this large watercolour to illustrate the pristine splendour of the new building. At the same time, the cutaway perspective recalls the fragments of Classical architecture which had inspired its design. The tiny figures are dwarfed by the cavernous vaulted hall and the watercolour succesfully conveys the grandeur of the hall. The rich interior decoration was executed largely as shown here, much of which was designed by Cockerell himself. The tiled floor, glimpsed here, was executed by Mintons and contains about 30,000 tiles.