Tucked away between the beating heart of Liverpool 's music scene and the city's main shopping streets is a sculpture with a cheeky past.
The little-known gorilla sculpture on Harrington Street in the city centre has links to boutique shopping arcade Cavern Walks, which opened in the 1980s and was designed by artist turned architect David Backhouse.
He told the ECHO: "It was Lord Norman Foster who said about me, 'an artist is to architecture like lipstick is to a gorilla'. Basically, saying I was irrelevant.
"So when I was designing Cavern Walks I got Hathenware Ceramics to make a little sculpture of a gorilla holding a compact and putting lipstick on."
READ MORE: Mum transforms house into Stranger Things Halloween 'spooktacular'
Lord Foster is most closely associated with the emergence of 'high-tech architecture' and has designed London landmarks such as The Millennium Bridge and The Gherkin among others, as well as the Reichstag Dome in Berlin.
David's tongue-in-cheek gorilla is still perched overhead on Harrington Street, heading towards North John Street, carved into the red brick of one of the buildings.
Years on, David has nothing but respect for his former rival: "He loved steel and glass and I didn't. But what he's done is incredible, he grew up on a Manchester council estate.
"I made the gorilla into a postcard and sent it to him, but being a Manc he didn't reply."
Cavern Walks burst onto Liverpool's shopping scene in the 1980s, a difficult decade for the city. It was a shining beacon of luxury, lined with high-end boutiques.
In the 1990s and noughties paparazzi would be there to catch a glimpse of WAGs Colleen Rooney and Alex Gerard on shopping sprees and the city's fashionistas would hold shows headed by the likes of model Abbie Clancy.
Last week, ECHO readers shared their fond memories of the centre and what they'd like to see at Cavern Walks in the future.
READ NEXT:
Boy, 10, with ASBO tried to become gang boss but got stabbed 27 times
Mum told 'don't worry' after finding pencil in Burger King order
Dad whose cold sore kiss killed son launched vile attack on ex partner
Teacher went to A&E 28 times in the six months before she died
Jennifer Ellison rushed to hospital after helicopter accident
