It is one of the most distinctive buildings in Liverpool, but the Philharmonic Hall used to look very different.
The Art Deco structure on Hope Street celebrated its 84th birthday this week. Finished in 1939 at a cost of £120,000 (around £8m in today's money), the concert hall we know today is not the first to stand on its site.
In July 1933, a fire destroyed the original hall, which had opened in 1849. When it opened, The Times' reporter described the hall as "one of the finest and best adapted to music that I ever entered".
