Liverpool Medical Institution stands on the corner of Mount Pleasant

Mount Pleasant, Liverpool

Mount Pleasant is a street in Liverpool City Centre. It is towards one end of Hope Street, and is the location of Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral.57 Mount Pleasant Street is referenced in the song Weather With You by Crowded House....

 and Hope Street

Hope Street, Liverpool

Hope Street, Liverpool, England stretches from Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral past Liverpool Cathedral to Upper Parliament Street. It contains several restaurants, hotels and bars. The road runs parallel to Rodney Street...

, in Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

, Merseyside

Merseyside

Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...

, England. The building opened in 1837 and has been designated by English Heritage

English Heritage

English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...

 as a Grade II* listed building.

History

This was formerly the site of an inn and a bowling green, which was the birth place of the businessman and amateur scientist William Roscoe

William Roscoe

William Roscoe , was an English historian and miscellaneous writer.-Life:He was born in Liverpool, where his father, a market gardener, kept a public house called the Bowling Green at Mount Pleasant. Roscoe left school at the age of twelve, having learned all that his schoolmaster could teach...

. In 1799 a group of local doctors created the Liverpool Medical Library. In 1833 the Liverpool Medical Society was formed. The two societies merged as the Liverpool Medical Institution, and commissioned Clark Rampling to design a building to house it. The building cost £4,000
(£ as of ), and was opened in 1837. In 1907 the Council Room was remodelled by Edmund Rathbone. The society was incorporated under a Royal Charter

Royal Charter

A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...

 in 1964. An extension was added to the building in 1966. In 1998 a major refurbishment of the building took place.

Architecture

The building is constructed in stone, and presents a curved façade to Mount Pleasant and Hope Street. Its architectural style is Greek Revival

Greek Revival architecture

The Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture...

. It has 16 bays

Bay (architecture)

A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...

. The lateral three bays on each side are recessed and have two storeys; the rest of the building is single-storied. The central seven bays form a recessed entrance behind six unfluted

Fluting (architecture)

Fluting in architecture refers to the shallow grooves running vertically along a surface.It typically refers to the grooves running on a column shaft or a pilaster, but need not necessarily be restricted to those two applications...

 Ionic

Ionic order

The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...

 columns. Elsewhere the bays are divided by pilaster

Pilaster

A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....

s. The windows are sash window

Sash window

A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels or "sashes" that form a frame to hold panes of glass, which are often separated from other panes by narrow muntins...

s. Along the top of the building is a cornice

Cornice

Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...

. Inside is a central hall, a lecture theatre, a library, a museum, and meeting rooms, all lit from above by glazed domes.

Present day

The Institution "exists to foster an environment for furthering medical and health education and knowledge". It organises lectures and social events, runs a library, and hosts meetings of the Liverpool Medical History Society, which was founded in 1984. It is a registered charity, and forms part of the University of Liverpool

University of Liverpool

The University of Liverpool is a teaching and research university in the city of Liverpool, England. It is a member of the Russell Group of large research-intensive universities and the N8 Group for research collaboration. Founded in 1881 , it is also one of the six original "red brick" civic...

.