2-913-766 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Interior of St. George's Hall, Liverpool, from the South - Performance of the First Oratorio, 1854. Inauguration of building designed by Harvey Lonsdale Elmes. 'The edifice contains not only the great hall for festivals and public assemblies, but, the courts of law, and various apartments for municipal and other purposes. The great hall is 168 feet long, 100 feet wide, and 85 feet high. The ceiling is a semicircular arch...extending over the whole length of the hall. Galleries run along the two east and west sides; and, along both the length and breadth of the hall, there is a range of noble Corinthian columns of red granite...special honour was paid to Sir Henry Bishop when he appeared, arrayed in his academic robes, and assumed his seat as conductor...The "Messiah" then began...The tones came out, freely and fully, without being attended with any echo, or other source of indistinctness'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.