[64007] Liverpool : St John's Beacon

St John's Beacon / Radio City Tower, 1 Houghton Street, Liverpool, 1965-69.

By James A Roberts Associates.

Grade ll listed.

 

St John’s Beacon was constructed as part of a scheme for a new shopping precinct forming part of Graeme Shankland's wider masterplan for Liverpool city centre. The beacon (and the attached shopping centre) were designed by James A Roberts of Birmingham for Ravenseft Properties.

 

The scheme was in development at least as early as 1961, and was intended to place Liverpool ‘in the forefront of “modern” cities, offering new vistas in merchandising and entertainment techniques’. An article noted that vertical emphasis ‘will be provided by the St John’s Beacon, an impressive 500ft tower carrying a glass-walled ''lantern'' within which refreshment bars and several tiers of viewing galleries will give visitors an uninterrupted view of coastline and surrounding countryside’.

 

As the design of St John’s Beacon evolved the lantern was reduced in scale to a single storey, with a viewing platform on the roof. It included a rotating restaurant known as the Tower Restaurant, one of only two in England; the other being at BT Tower, London. The tower was designed to serve a dual function as an observation tower and also a ventilation flue for the shopping centre boilers in the basement, however, changes in health and safety regulations in the year of completion meant that the latter function was never served.

 

St John’s Beacon was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1969, and was the highest building in Liverpool at 138m (450ft). It now has an additional 10m antenna.

 

The restaurant closed in 1979 and then reopened in the early 1980s, before closing again. In 1999-2000 the tower was refurbished and converted for use as a radio broadcasting studio. The rotating mechanism was fixed in place, and the rooftop viewing platform was enclosed to provide additional accommodation. The tower was refurbished again in 2011.

 

Architect James Roberts (1922-2019) was born in Kings Heath, Birmingham. Following his father, Ernest S Roberts, into the profession, he attended the Birmingham School of Architecture, later becoming one of its lecturers. He worked extensively with the property company Ravenseft, primarily in Birmingham but also in Croydon, and on the St John’s scheme in Liverpool. He made a lasting mark on Birmingham’s built environment, most famously with the Rotunda (1960-65, also a tower rising from a shopping complex, originally conceived with a revolving restaurant at the top.

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