Liverpool City Council - listed buildings

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Listed buildings

The best of the city's historic buildings are protected by being on the Statutory List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. This list is put together by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

Buildings are listed for their national interest in terms of historic or architectural importance; or for their contribution as part of an important group; or because of a link with famous people or events. 

Requests to list a building are dealt with by the Listings Branch of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport rather than the council. Once included on the list, Listed Building Consent is needed to alter, extend or demolish a protected building. This protection is for the interior and exterior works and protects other structures and buildings within the grounds of the listed building. It can be a criminal offence to carry out works to a listed building without consent. The council's conservation officers will be able to give help on whether consent is needed for works.

There are also national societies that can provide help on historic buildings;-

• The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) - pre-1750 buildings.
• The Georgian Group - buildings up to about1835.
• The Victorian Society - Victorian and Edwardian buildings.
• The Twentieth Century Society - 20th century buildings (especially "modernist")         

How can I find out if a certain building is a listed building?

You can find this out by looking at the summary version of the 8th List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest.

How many listed buildings are there in Liverpool?

The list for Liverpool dates from 1985 and has 1,471 entries - some cover more than one property. Since then there have been over 80 updates to the list. When each list entry is broken down into individual properties, over 2,500 separate properties are protected.

As part of the Historic Environment of Liverpool Project (HELP) with English Heritage there will be a review of Liverpool's historic buildings and an up-dated list will be produced.

Buildings are given a "grade" when they are listed. Liverpool has 26 Grade I buildings, or buildings of exceptional interest (1%); 85 Grade II*, referred to as "two star" which are particularly important buildings of more than special interest (3.5%), and the remainder Grade II  - buildings of special interest that warrant every effort being made to preserve them (95.5%)

What do these grades mean?

Grade I - (2% of all listed buildings nationally).
Grade II* - (4% nationally).
Grade II - (the remaining 94% nationally).