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Liverpool Tobacco Warehouse, Liverpool Docks, Urbex, Abandoned
Tobacco Warehouse
Liverpool Docks. 2016

The Stanley Dock Tobacco Warehouse is a grade II listed building and at the time of its construction in 1901 was claimed to be the world's largest brick warehouse, with a net floor area of 48,644 square metres and stands adjacent to the Stanley Dock, in Liverpool. It stands 38 m high and comprises 14 storeys and spans across 36 acres. In addition to these impressive figures, its construction used 27 million bricks, 30,000 panes of glass and 8,000 tons of steel. At the time of its use, the warehouse could accommodate 70,000 hogsheads of tobacco (each weighing 1,000 lbs). The warehouse had 42 bays, divided by seven loading bays and was claimed to be the largest warehouse in the world and the largest brick building in the world. 

The overall design was done by A. G. Lyster, the Dock Engineer, but it is widely assumed that Arthur Berrington almost certainly played a part. The warehouse was a late addition to the Stanley Dock complex and was built on land reclaimed from the dock. Stanley Dock is accessible from the dock system or by barge from the Leeds and Liverpool Canal which enters under Great Howard Street bridge. At high level on the west end - in raised figures and letters - are "MDE, 1900" and "Tobacco Warehouse." On the north (dock) side are a series of iron stairs. 

The development of the docks in Liverpool began in the early eighteenth century. Before then trade was limited by the tides and currents of the River Mersey. As work began on the seven and a half miles of docks, Liverpool quickly established itself as one of the biggest ports in the world. The vital role of the Docks and it's connections throughout the world made the City the biggest target outside London during World War II.Despite the war and other setbacks, the Docks continued to thrive. However, as new cargo handling methods developed in the late 1950's, Liverpool lost out to modern container ports throughout the country.

The docks drew ships from all around the world, connecting Liverpool with such places as the West Indies and the Colonies, whilst accepting gum from Arabia, mohair from Syria and the tobacco of Virginia and Baltimore. The warehouse was predominantly used for tobacco storage and is linked to the Leeds-Liverpool canal for connections with the area around Liverpool. 

With the decline of trade going through Liverpool, the warehouse fell into disuse in the 1980s. The former dock labourers, lumpers, porters and stevedores have become echoes of a historical past. Toiling workers in suits and flat caps, loading tobacco into the warehouse, are now gone, leaving behind only the setting which gradually fell into a state of disrepair.

The building has featured in the Stop the Rot conservation campaign by the Liverpool Echo newspaper. Part of the ground floor of the warehouse was - for some time - used for the Sunday Heritage Market. In 2010, local club promoter Sean Weaver held a warehouse rave on Boxing Day, which saw 2,500 people descend on the building.

In 2014, Stanley Dock Properties, under the auspices of the Irish company who had previously transformed Belfast's Titanic Quarter, Harcourt Developments, put forward a proposal for the warehouse to be converted into 550 apartments accompanied by businesses, cafes and retail outlets on the ground floor.

As part of a larger development of the whole Stanley Dock site, between 2015–2021, the Tobacco Warehouse was redeveloped into several hundred apartments. The plans involved hollowing out the centre of the warehouse to create a garden-filled courtyard and the first residents moved in to the renovated site in 2021. 

The complex was listed as one of the key areas of Liverpool City Council's Ten Streets regeneration project in 2017

© A World in Ruins 2010-2021      All rights reserved 

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