The nineteenth century in Liverpool is neatly framed by two key events in the history of the Gothic Revival. It was while in Liverpool that Thomas Rickman (1776–1841) began the systematic study of old buildings that would result in his seminal 1817 book, An Attempt to discriminate the Styles of English Architecture, from the Conquest to the Reformation; and it was in Liverpool, in 1904, that the foundation stone of the Anglican Cathedral designed by Giles Gilbert Scott (1880–1960) was laid. Rickman stands at the beginning of the scholarly revival of Gothic architecture, while Scott can be seen as marking its end. But what of the period in between? Victorian Liverpool has been regarded as essentially a Classical city, where the Greek Revival works of John Foster Junior (c.1787–1846), followed by the triumphantly Graeco–Roman St George's Hall of Harvey Lonsdale Elmes (1814–47) and Charles Robert Cockerell (1788–1863), set the architectural agenda for most of the rest of the century. It was a view expressed in 1874 by E. W. Godwin (1833–86), who remarked favourably on the difference in this respect between Liverpool and neighbouring Manchester: ‘Fresh from Manchester oriels and plate–glass Gothic, the “Classic” buildings of Liverpool give quite a pleasing sensation, even to a Goth like me’. But was early and mid– Victorian Liverpool really so single–mindedly Classical? That Gothic was the standard style for churches goes without saying, but what of the office buildings that made up the town's commercial core, and the suburban houses where the mercantile elite lived in almost rural seclusion?

In the commercial centre the 1840s and 50s were a period of comprehensive redevelopment, during which the streets around the Exchange were extensively rebuilt with speculative office blocks. These were modelled on Italian Renaissance palazzi, following the example set by the club houses of Charles Barry (1795–1860) in London's West End. They were largely the work of a generation of mature architects such as Cockerell, John Cunningham (1799–1873) and especially William Culshaw (c.1807–74) – heirs of late Georgian and Regency Classicism, to whom a restrained Italianate style came naturally.