Insights From A VG&M
Tour Guide

Volunteer Tour Guide for the Victoria Gallery & Museum, Barbara Marshall, speaks about where a number of Alfred Waterhouse's influences come from, with Barbara hailing from the Liverpool City Region herself. She, said:

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"Because Waterhouse did come from a very wealthy family and he was very obviously interested in architecture, and he did what we would like to do — a guided tour around Europe.

So he travelled around Europe and being wealthy he would have been treated very well. And he looked at all sorted off different kinds of architecture. Gothic architecture, you know, Notre-Dame in Paris. Romanesque Architecture, Egyptian Architecture, although I don't think he went to Egypt.

But he obviously worked very, very hard and did enormous about of research. Brought it back to Liverpool, and then, this probably... well it's his best building in Liverpool. His most famous building is the Natural History Museum in London. In Manchester, the Town Hall — you can't go to they're at the moment because it's being refurbished, but a wonderful contrast to the Town Hall is Strangeways Prison. He built a prison, as well.

So he collected all his information then came back to Liverpool. Got commissions and did all sorts of buildings, including private houses, and there are two in Canning Street, which is not very far away from here. You wouldn't recognise them as Waterhouse, but he still put a lot of input into them."