h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi,

You mention the Liver Building in Liverpool, with its mythical copper 'Liver Birds' atop the twin clock towers. It forms one of a trio of 'classical' buildings that stand cheek by jowl on the city's famous waterfront.

They are known locally, and now perhaps nationally, as 'The Three Graces' as they form the most prominent feature of the waterfront as seen by many from the decks of famous 20th century luxury liners, as they emigrated from the UK to live in America or elsewhere. It was also for many their last view of their native country; and for others their first view of the country in which they wished to live, work and raise a family and eventually become U.K. citizens.

One of them is the Cunard Building, the former headquarters of the (perhaps) most famous of all shipping lines. I have had the good fortune of viewing the Mersey estuary from the top floor of the Cunard Building, as it became the HQ of the General Chemicals Division of Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd in the 1940s, to about the early 1960s.

The third building is the 'Port of Liverpool Building' and the HQ of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board. If one searches on-line for The Three Graces, one gets some splendid views of the trio, the pride of native Liverpudlians everywhere. I lived as a child, throughout the second world war, on the opposite side of the river Mersey, further up the estuary in the narrower part of the river, and remember well the sounds of the enemy's efforts to destroy the vast docks complex, which was both a Royal Navy base and a vital destination for the import of precious supplies from the United States and Canada.

You have done some brilliant research for your Entry. I know many of the other buildings you have mentioned here, and have been inside Little Moreton Hall, a must for anyone who loves historical houses.

Ron J