Exhibition: Thu, Jul 27, 2017 11:30am Sun, Sep 10, 2017 12:30pm
A New Cathedral, 1960: Designs from the architectural competition for Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral
A new exhibition showcasing unrealised designs for Liverpool’s Metropolitan Cathedral will open in the city this summer. Taking place as part of the cathedral’s golden jubilee celebrations, the exhibition will include newly commissioned physical models of some of the key proposals. The 1960 competition to design Liverpool’s Roman Catholic cathedral (pictured above) attracted huge attention with 299 entries submitted from around the world. Architects were invited to design a cathedral for Liverpool which would relate to the existing Crypt, be capable of construction within five years and cost no more than £1 million for its shell. Of the 299 entries, Sir Frederick Gibberd’s design was chosen, and building began in October 1962. Less than five years later, on the Feast of Pentecost, 14 May 1967, the completed cathedral was consecrated.
‘A New Cathedral, 1960: Designs from the architectural competition for Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral’, which has been curated by Dominic Wilkinson of the Liverpool Modernist Society and Liverpool John Moores University, will be located within the main entrance porch of the cathedral from 27 July until 10 September.