As far back as 1252 there has been a townhouse on the Liverpool shore. Sir John Stanley pulled down the old house in 1406 and built the first Tower known as the Tower of Liverpool. This was used as an embarkation base for their property in the Isle of Man. The Tower stood at the shore end of Water Street. Water street being one of the original seven streets of Liverpool was originally called ‘Bonke Street’. ‘Bonke’ was Lancashire dialect for ‘bank’ (taken from river bank). Through the years it became Bank Street and then eventually Water Street in 1520’s. During the 18th century the Tower of Liverpool, between Tower gardens and Stringers alley was the Jail of Liverpool. A large arch joined the Tower to the building on the other side of Tower Gardens and this building was used to house debtors and Criminals. The Tower ceased being a jail on 3rd July 1811 when all the criminals were moved to the new jail in Great Howard Street. In 1877 two men convicted of robbery were executed in Water Street opposite the Old Tower. By the end of the 18th century the Tower was in disrepair and was pulled down in 1819 to be replaced by warehouses. In 1856 the warehouses gave way to the second Tower called Tower Buildings, a large Italianate office block by J. A. Picton. Unfortunately The Tower fell foul to the demands of commerce and was demolished in the early 20th century. The present Tower Building, designed by Walter Aubrey Thomas was completed around 1908. Walter Aubrey Thomas is not to be confused with his contemporary, Walter W. Thomas, who designed the Philharmonic Dining Rooms , ‘The Phil’ and The Vines, ‘The Big House’. It was possibly to avoid confusion that he always styled himself as W. Aubrey Thomas During the air raids over Liverpool in 1941 Tower Building was badly bombed and several people were killed and injured. Check out the BBC site for the real life story. ‘WW2 People’s War is an online archive of wartime memories contributed by members of the public
