Lewis's Building

The Lewis's Building is a 20th-century Grade II listed building[1] located in Liverpool, England. Purpose built as the flagship store for the now defunct Lewis's department store chain, the building is set to be redeveloped as part of redevelopment project Central Village.

This article is about the building in Liverpool. For the defunct department store chain, see Lewis's.
Lewis's Building
General information
Typedepartment store
LocationLiverpool, England, United Kingdom
Coordinates53.4049°N 2.9785°W / 53.4049; -2.9785
Completed1940s/1950s
Technical details
Floor count9
Floor area420,000 sq ft (39,000 m2)
Design and construction
ArchitectGerald de Courcy Fraser
Main contractorFraser, Sons & Geary

History

In 1856 men's and boy's clothing store Lewis's began trading from 19th century building on the current site. This building was eventually replaced in the 1910s and 1920s with a design by Gerald de Courcy Fraser which incorporated the adjacent Watson Building. During the Liverpool Blitz the building was mostly destroyed by bombs, requiring a rebuild which was again taken by Gerald de Courcy Fraser in 1947.[2] The newly constructed nine-storey 420,000 sq ft store opened in 1956 and operated until 29 May 2010.

Since the demise of Lewis's the building has been remained vacant apart from with a branch of PureGym currently occupying the ground floor since 2015.[3] The building is set to be redeveloped under a new project called Central Village whereby the new site will consist of 26 units with an average floor space of 620 m2 (6,700 sq ft) (although the largest unit covers 2,240 m2 or 24,100 sq ft). This will bring the total retail and leisure space in Central Village to around 24,000 m2 (260,000 sq ft), effectively making it the third largest shopping centre in Liverpool city centre behind only Liverpool One and St. John's Shopping Centre. Large amounts of office space and a 125-room Adagio hotel will occupy the remaining floors.[4]

Sculpture
Liverpool Resurgent (1956) by Jacob Epstein
Main article: Liverpool Resurgent

To symbolise Liverpool's resurgence following World War II a statue made by Sir Jacob Epstein of a nude man was added above the building's main entrance. Its official title is Liverpool Resurgent but is nicknamed locally as either 'Nobby Lewis' or 'Dickie Lewis'. The statue was unveiled for Lewis's Centenary celebrations in 1956, which came as the blitzed store had completed rebuilding. It is a well-known local meeting place, and was immortalised in the 1962 anthemic song In My Liverpool Home by Peter McGovern:

"We speak with an accent exceedingly rare,
Meet under a statue exceedingly bare"
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gollark: ÄÄÄÄÄÄ
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gollark: Oh, and you want it to be the ONLY thing?
gollark: You do NOT want to know about Microsoft's VisualBasic HTML.

References
  1. "Lewis's Department Store". Historic England. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  2. Sharples, Joseph (2004). Liverpool. Yale University Press. p. 182. ISBN 978-0300102581.
  3. Thomas, Joe. "PureGym ready to open in Lewis's building after months of delays". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  4. "Revival plan as Lewis's is sold". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
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