The Duke Street area lies to the south of the city centre. The area consists of the south west part of the Duke Street Conservation Area plus two warehouses on College Lane and the Bluecoat Chambers on School Lane.   

The growth of the Duke Street area commenced following the opening in 1715 of the Old Dock, or Steers Dock, which was located within the original pool and allowed secure moorings and access from the river Mersey. The opportunity that this afforded to the merchants of the town led to a demand for premises near to the Dock and its Customs House. The Duke Street area, due to its proximity to the Dock, and the nature of its topography, with the land running uphill from the Dock, was at the forefront of the first speculators boom inLiverpool. Hanover Street was built up first, followed by Duke Street and Bold Street, and the fields that were an earlier feature of the area were also quickly developed. Although there had been port-related industrial activity in the area, with roperies occupying the site of what is now Bold Street to supply the sailing ships, this intensified along with a demand for residential properties so that the merchants could be located close to their business interests.   

The Charles Eyes plan of 1785 illustrates that by this time, the area had been substantially laid out and developed, so that connecting streets such as Seel and Fleet Streets were present, and the plan of the area seen today was in place. This grain follows a hierarchy of streets, with the broadest streets containing the residual merchants residences and shops, and the interconnecting and narrower streets to the rear containing the warehousing and poorer housing. 

The earliest surviving trade directory forLiverpool, produced by J. Gore in 1766, indicates the population mix of the area of the time. InCleveland Square, the list contains nine sea captains, six traders/merchants as well as artisans and professionals. Originally the goods brought into the Dock were stored in the merchants houses, but as trade grew, they proved to be inadequate, and private warehouses were constructed adjacent to the houses. Due to the huge demand for plots in this area, the new industrial and warehouse buildings took the form of deep plans front to rear, with narrow street frontages and they were extended in height to three or four stories with a basement.   

The housing consisted of a range of buildings from grand Georgian town houses such as the Parr residence onColquitt Street, to terraces as seen at 15-25 Duke Street. Some of these were arranged around squares or gardens, such asWolstenholme SquareandCleveland Square, and a Ladies Walk was provided along Duke Street. As the warehousing and industrial uses of the area grew, the merchants moved to more salubrious suburbs that were being developed higher up the hill in the Canning Streetarea and more distant areas such as Mossley Hill. Some of the former residential properties were adapted to other uses, with ground floors converted to shops as the retail importance of the area grew. As part of this process, the area also saw an increase in the number of labourers attracted to the port and its trades, and the accommodation for this group was provided in much poorer back-to-back housing such as Dukes Terrace and housing courts. Within the Duke Street area, a number of key buildings remain that help to define its history and character.   

Bluecoat Chambers, School Lane 
Opened 1718 
Grade I 
Bluecoat Chambers was originally built as a charity school in 1717 in the Queen Anne style. One of the earliest surviving buildings in the city centre, it was paid for by Bryan Blundell, a Liverpool sea captain and merchant. Although the school was dedicated to the 'promotion of Christian Charity and the training of poor boys' according to the inscription below its pediment, Mr Blundell made his wealth in the American trade that included tobacco and slavery.   

The building is of brick and consists of a two-storey, five-bay centre, originally with a hall and chapel, and has two long wings of eleven bays which delineate a three-sided, cobbled courtyard to the front. It has a stone plinth with rusticated quoins, with a stone parapet to the centre, and a pediment with clock in the tympanum over the three bays that break forward of the plane. The sash windows are round headed with architraves and cherub keystones. The main entrance is round headed with a broken pediment above containing a cartouche of the arms of Liverpool. The three-storey wings have flat headed sash windows to two storeys, with occuli at third storey, and three entrances reached by steps. The middle doorways each have broken pediments with Liver Bird icons. To the rear a landscaped garden provides a quiet environment, totally enclosed from the city. The building is topped with a cupola, which is a local landmark in this area.   

The Bluecoat School remained in this building until 1906, when it relocated to much larger premises in Wavertree, aLiverpoolsuburb. In 1909 the first Lord Leverhulme bought the building with the intention of using the building as a centre for the arts. Due to the intervention of the First World War, work on the project ceased, and on the death of Lord Leverhulme in 1925, the building was purchased by the Bluecoat Society of Arts. The building is still used for the Arts in Liverpool.   

Thomas Parr's House and Warehouse, Colquitt Street.   

1799 

Grade II 

The complex of buildings built for Thomas Parr is one of the earliest remaining residence/warehouse hybrid uses that was so characteristic of the Duke Streeta rea as the area developed following the construction of the Old Dock in 1715. This particular example represents an evolution of the dual use of a site, with the residence and the warehouse separate but sharing the same plot, and the concept of mixed use on the site is still apparent. The house became the Royal Institution when it fell out of residential use in 1817, and it was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1822.   

It consists of a main three-storey, five-bay central house with the central three bays breaking forward, and a two storey pavilion on either side, connected to the main building by walls. All the windows have flat heads with glazing bar sashes. The main building has a projecting Doric porch designed by Edmund Aiken circa 1815, with a stucco architrave to the entrance and a fanlight. The rainwater head on the main house has the date 1800 and a lion mask. 

To the rear of this group on Parr Street there is a brick built, five-storey warehouse. Unusually it has stone dressings, and is a good example of an early warehouse with its floor to roof loading bays.   

Warehouse at 33 Argyle Street/14-18 Henry Street 
L ate 19th Century 
Grade II 
This is a late warehouse complex, and illustrates the full flowering of the warehouse type, in which the functional detail of the building forms the basis for a conscious architectural treatment of the exterior. The four storey warehouses are of dark brown brick with red and blue brick detailing and stone dressings. The Henry Streetelevation has a symmetrical elevation of two three-bay gables arranged either side of a narrow, central bay. The recessed loading bay has pairs of metal doors, with the recess outlined in blue brick. Each bay has a decorated pointed arch to the head consisting of dentils, a motif that is repeated in more elaborate form below a moulded stone coping at the head of each main gable. At the junction of the two main gables, ground floor doorways lead to winder staircases arranged back-to-back.   

Internally there is a wide, shallow arched vaulting carried on iron flanged beams supported mid-span by cast iron columns. The roof structure consists of light sectioned metal, with tension rods, raking struts and metal laths. This, coupled with the metal doors to the loading bays demonstrates the use of a high degree of fireproofing to satisfy the regulations laid down in earlier Acts of Parliament. 

105 Duke Street 
Circa 1800 
Grade II 
Dating from 1800, this fine ashlar building was designed by John Foster senior. Originally the Union Newsroom, it became Liverpool's first public library in 1852-60. Two storeys high, it has five bays toDuke Streetand three bays toSlater Street. The ground floor has round-headed windows. The Slater Street elevation has a centre pediment, a Venetian window to the first floor with Ionic columns, and three round-headed windows to the ground floor.   

The Bridewell (Argyle/Campbell Street)   

1861 

Grade II 

Located within the midst of the warehouses in the Duke Street area, the Bridewell, or Police Station, dates from c.1850. Although the Old Dock constructed nearby was redundant by this time, the Bridewell was constructed near the new docks and near the main lodging areas for the sailors. It is of brick with stone dressings and a slate roof. The building is of two storeys and three bays, with the centre bay projecting to form the base of a short tower. The ground floor windows have stone lintols, and all windows are vertically sliding sashes with glazing bars. The entrance has a rusticated architrave with a lion's head to the keystone and a stone plaque above. The roof is hipped, with that to the tower having a finial. A later ventilation tower to the rear was constructed to vent the ground floor cells, which are windowless and reached through an iron door. Closely surrounding the building is a wall of brick, approximately 12 feet in height with a rounded stone coping. The bevelled corner is surmounted by an iron lamp-holder above a plain doorway.   

Warehouse and offices at 12 Hanover Street 
1863 and 1889 
Grade II 
A combined office and warehouse building of 1889, incorporating an earlier warehouse of 1863 in Argyle Street, the building is notable for its hybrid use and its extravagant design by the architect Edmund Kirby. Of soft red brick with terracotta detailing around the windows and chimneys that rise dramatically above a balustrade, the building is in a prominent position at the junction of Hanover Street, Duke Street and Paradise Street, and makes a theatrical statement as it turns the corner. Of four storeys and twelve bays, the ground floor has round-headed windows with sloping basement windows below. The third bay, off Duke Street has a cart entrance to serve an inner court that gives access to the loading bays of the warehouse. Above the main entrance are canted oriel windows, and the full length of the building at first floor has an iron balcony. At the top of the building is aLombardfrieze with balustrading between the chimneys.