The Royal Liver Building ( /ˈlaɪvər/) is a Grade I listed building located in Liverpool, England. It is sited at the Pier Head and along with the neighbouring Cunard Building and Port of Liverpool Building is one of Liverpool's Three Graces, which line the city's waterfront. It is also part of Liverpool's UNESCO designated World Heritage Maritime Mercantile City.
Opened in 1911, the building is the purpose-built home of the Royal Liver Assurance group, which had been set up in the city in 1850 to provide locals with assistance related to losing a wage-earning relative. One of the first buildings in the world to be built using reinforced concrete, the Royal Liver Building stands at 90 m (300 ft) tall and was formerly the tallest storied building in Europe. It was the tallest building in the UK but surpassed by Shell Centre. It still had the title of the tallest building in Liverpool but surpassed by the Radio City Tower. The Royal Liver Building is now only the joint-fourth tallest structure in Liverpool.
Today the Royal Liver Building is one of the most recognisable landmarks in the city of Liverpool and is home to two fabled Liver Birds that watch over the city and the sea. Legend has it that were these two birds to fly away, then the city would cease to exist.
Famous quotes containing the words royal, liver and/or building:
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that untamable, eternal, gut-driven, ha-ha
and lucky love.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“Life loves the liver of it.”
—Maya Angelou (b. 1928)
“A truly great book should be read in youth, again in maturity and once more in old age, as a fine building should be seen by morning light, at noon and by moonlight.”
—Robertson Davies (b. 1913)