Walter Aubrey Thomas


Walter Aubrey Thomas was an English architect who practised from an office in Dale Street, Liverpool. For his training he was articled to the Liverpool architect Francis Doyle, and established his own independent practice in about 1876. His works consisted mainly of commercial buildings. He has been described as "the most individual Liverpool architect of the early 1900s". At least seven of his works are designated by English Heritage as listed buildings, and these are included in the list below, of which the most notable is the Grade I listed Royal Liver Building. Sharples and Pollard in the Pevsner Architectural Guides state that "his work shows admirable inventiveness and stylistic variety, as well as ambition matched by technological resourcefulness".

Key

GradeCriteria
Grade IBuildings of exceptional interest, sometimes considered to be internationally important.
Grade II*Particularly important buildings of more than special interest.
Grade IIBuildings of national importance and special interest.

Works

NameLocationPhotographDateNotesGrade
New Zealand House18 Water Street, Liverpool
c. 1893A new commercial building.
Lord Street Arcade81–89 Lord Street, Liverpool
1901The frontage is in red and white stone in Italian Gothic style. It is in three bays, each bay including a round arch, above which is a row of windows resembling a triforium, and a gable. It originally led to a glass-roofed shopping arcade.
Brooke HouseParkgate, Cheshire
1904A house Aubrey Thomas built for himself in "understated" Arts and Crafts style.
State Insurance Building14 Dale Street, Liverpool
1906The building was initially symmetrical about a central tower, but it was damaged in the Second World War. The remaining part of the building has three bays, and incorporates a five-storey turret. Its architectural style is described as "flamboyant Gothic", and as "wiry, sinuous Gothic".
Tower BuildingCorner of Water Street and the Strand, Liverpool
1906This is an office building on the site of the former Tower of Liverpool, with crenallated turrets providing a link to this. It is one of the earliest steel-framed buildings in the country, and is clad in white glazed terracotta.
Royal Liver BuildingPier Head, Liverpool
1908–11This was one of the first multi-storey, reinforced concrete, steel-framed buildings in the world. It was built for the Royal Liver Assurance. Its exterior is cladded with granite. The building is in eight storeys, it incorporates domes at its corners, and has two clock towers, each of which is surmounted by a copper sculpture representing a liver bird. It is described as "perhaps the most extraordinary office block of its date in the country".
Crane BuildingHanover Street, Liverpool
1913–15This was built as a five-storey store selling musical instruments, with a theatre above it, later known as the Epstein Theatre and the Neptune Theatre. The theatre has been refurbished, and renamed the Epstein Theatre.
Dunstan WoodBurton, Cheshire
1926A house built by Aubrey Thomas for himself. It is entirely in concrete, including the staircase and the roof.
ElmhurstNeston, Cheshire
UndatedAlterations and an extension to a building dating from 1717.