30-34 Gallowgate

Brick built building with stone dressings. Five storeys plus basement and attic floor lit by dormer windows. Narrow enclosed yard to rear. Nos. 30-34 Gallowgate was built in two phases. The initial building dates to c.1891 and was two storeys high. In 1924 it was raised to its current height. The end walls were rebuilt to support the additional floors. The façade of the lower two floors is more ornate than the upper floors, featuring stone lintels and mullions. Engaged brick pilasters separate the window bays and there is a projecting cornice along the top of second floor level at what was presumably the level of the original eaves. The central doorway has a segmental arched lintel. There were originally three such doors, but in 1924 two of these were replaced by windows. A simple but elegant doorway with flat lintel and moulded surround stands at the eastern end of the Gallowgate façade. The building was designed as a warehouse for T.H. Forsyth in 1891, by the architect E. Bowman. By 1894, Kelly's Directory lists Messrs. S & C.W. Dixon & Co., wholesale boot and shoe manufacturers at this site. By June 1908 the General Electric Co. Ltd. Was also occupying the premises. The 1924 elevation drawing for the proposed heightening of the building, by the architect H.T. Wright, shows that the electric company occupied the eastern half of the building, and Dixon, Blair & Co. (Dixon's Boot Factory), the western half. By 1936 or 1937, the electric company had moved into the adjacent newly built Magnet House and Andrews House. By 1968 the Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society had joined the boot and shoe manufacturers at Nos. 32 and 34. Most recent uses include a Japanese restaurent in the basement of No. 34 and a clothing retailer on the ground floor of No. 32. Demolished 2005.