Coleman's Fireproof Depository

i knew this was you.

i'll have to stop saying that.

Is that because you recognise the building?

That is fab. :)

not the building, more your style :)

That's a great building, and I do love these painted signs. Imagine a special room for musical instruments! Controlled humidity perhaps.

I thought you might. They're not painted though. They're all tiled, which is why they've survived long after the business....

More pics to come. I went back....

And Nige, I didn't know I had a style.

Oops, me, obviously.

That's even better, being tiled rather than painted. Coincidentally, I was looking at a building yesterday where the signage was built into the brickwork, with some bricks protruding out from the wall. I'll have to go back and take some photographs next week.

That would be good Factotum. I've now posted some more detailed pictures of the brickwork, textures etc. I think I prefer those.

Interesting building.
looking this series of pics I've remembered the Hotel New York in Rotterdam an extraordinary late 19th c building setat the end of a pier in the Rotterdam harbor.

I know this... Glad it's still standing! Are these phone masts added on the sides? Looks a bit strange.
I like the bottom picture.

Rebuilt in 1900 after the great depository fire?

lilitiger, I don't know what those are on the side. Although, as an aside, I happened to drive around the back of this building one evening a few days later and was surprised to see lights on. So it's still being used for something, despite appearances.

Don't know SFG. Do you? You'd hope that wasn't the case. Perhaps they were so successful they needed a bigger one.

There is some interesting discussion of it here. One of the commenters asserts that it burned during the riots of 1981, ironically.

Thanks Euphro. I've not lived in Liverpool long enough to remember the Toxteth riots but from what little I know, I don't think that's the right part of Toxteth.

Yes, they didn't provide any support for their statement :)

The scientist in me forces a closer inspection, and there are what appear to be soot/smoke plume marks above the open windows, but that just means that it may have burned at some point in the past, assuming it is soot :)

it did burn during the riots

it did burn during the riots

i live facing it all. the buildings to the left of it burnt to the ground. it is still used for storage.