This building used to be the office of the former newspaper The Liverpool Mercury and is now occupied by two clubs Fudge and Krazy House. The office fronted Wood Street while the printing presses were in the industrial block at the rear, visible along Roe Alley. This division of style according to function perhaps related to the earlier architectural history of Rope Walks in which merchant's warehouses were fronted by houses, each clearly defined by a contrast in style. Above each of the main entrances there are two small heads of Mercury, the winged messenger. On the corner there is a scrolled shield bearing a Liver Bird above a horn and Mercury's wand entwined by serpents, resting on bows and topped by a shell. The whole is flanked by cascades of fruit and below it is a banner bearing the single word Libertas, Freedom. The Mercury was launched in 1811, moving here in 1879, it merged with The Daily Post in 1904.

Sources:
Pevsner Architectural Guides; Liverpool by Joseph Sharples
The Little Book Of Liver Birds by David Cottrell

Walk 003 | Home