To spot the Cunard Building, just look for the grand, light-coloured rectangular building right in front of you, with its stately rows of large windows and ornate carvings at the top, proudly flying several flags from its roof along the waterfront between its two famous neighbours.
Right, here we are, standing before the majestic Cunard Building-Liverpool’s very own slice of Renaissance Italy, with a dash of Greek drama thrown in for good measure! Imagine you’re in the hustle and bustle of the early 1900s. The city is alive, steamships toot their horns along the Mersey, and everything smells faintly of coal and adventure. The Cunard Steamship Company needed a new home-somewhere grand enough for ship designers, bookkeepers, and hopeful passengers about to cross the Atlantic in style. So in 1914, architects William Willink and Philip Thicknesse set to work, taking inspiration from grand Italian palaces and a sprinkle of New York’s Beaux-Arts movement. By 1917, their vision stood complete: this grand building, with its crisp Portland stone façade, huge windows, and enough marble inside to make even the Romans jealous.
As you stand here, you’ll see why it’s called one of the Three Graces, lining up with the Royal Liver Building and the Port of Liverpool Building like old friends at a fancy dress party. The windows look out over the river, but don’t forget to take a peek at the details-statues of Britannia, Neptune, and scenes from stormy seas guard the walls, alongside symbols of peace and war and even references to the farthest reaches of the world. Why? Because Cunard wasn’t just sending people to New York, they dreamed of connecting the globe.
Step back in time for a moment. It’s 1934-Cunard has just joined forces with its rival, the White Star Line, and together they’re the kings of the ocean. From inside these very offices, engineers and artists brought icons like the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth liners to life. Imagine the buzz on the upper floors, design teams shouting over blueprints and sunlight streaming through vast windows. Down below, suitcases clattered along the marble corridors. First class passengers, dressed to impress, waited in opulent lounges, while those in second and third class gathered in their own separate rooms, hearts pounding with anticipation.
Picture wartime Liverpool too. The sub-basement down there, somewhere deep below your feet, was an air raid shelter-candles flickering as workers huddled together and bombs thundered outside. That same basement was also the city’s Air Raid Precautions HQ. If the building could talk, I bet it would say, “You don’t know pressure until you have the fate of half the city’s people resting on your reinforced concrete!”
By the 1960s, the glamour of sea travel faded, and Cunard sailed off to Southampton, leaving this building to adapt and reinvent itself again and again: new owners, new tenants, a home for businesses and the British Music Experience. Even in recent years, there was talk of turning it into a cruise terminal, but the cost of modern security and border control was too high. It’s a survivor, really-just like Liverpool itself.
Make sure not to miss the War Memorial at the west side of the building-a tall, elegant column topped with the figure of Victory, standing proud on the prow of a ship. Designed to match the Greek-inspired details of the building, it remembers Cunard’s brave employees lost in both world wars. Take a moment to read the inscription-“Pro Patria”-For One’s Country-and imagine the emotional ceremonies that have taken place here.
So whether you see this building as a palace fit for kings, a hive of hope for migrants and dreamers, or just a really fancy place to work, the Cunard Building is a storyteller all on its own-every stone whispering tales of mighty ocean journeys, changing fortunes, and the relentless spirit of Liverpool.
