"Landmarks

Liverpool's history means that there are a considerable variety of architectural styles found there. Its role as a major port in the British Empire means that many of finest buildings in the city were built as headquarters for shipping firms and insurance companies, whilst the great wealth this afforded the city allowed the development of grand civic buildings, designed to allow the local administrators to 'run the city with pride'.
There are over 2,500 listed buildings in Liverpool (of which 26 are Grade I listed and 85 are Grade II* listed) and only the UK capital London, has more. It has been the beneficiary of high-minded public spirit since the late 18th century, largely with Dissenter impetus, resulting in more public sculpture than in any UK city aside from Westminster, more listed buildings than any city apart from London and, surprisingly, more Georgian houses than the city of Bath. Liverpool is also described by English Heritage as England's finest Victorian city.
Renowned architects are particularly well represented in Liverpool, including Peter Ellis, John Wood, the Elder of Bath (commissioned in 1749 to design the original Public Exchange which later became the Town Hall), Thomas 'Greek' Harrison, James Wyatt, Harvey Lonsdale Elmes, Philip Hardwick, Jesse Hartley (Dock engineer and architect of the Albert Dock and Stanley Dock), Charles Cockerell, Thomas Rickman, John Foster, Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, J.J. Scholes, Sir Joseph Paxton, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, J.K. Colling, J.A. Picton, George Edmund Street, John Loughborough Pearson, E.W. Pugin, E.R. Robson, Edmund Kirby, Sir Edwin Lutyens, Sir Frederick Gibberd, Alfred Waterhouse (who was born in Aigburth), W.D. Caroe, Leonard Stokes, Norman Shaw, James Francis Doyle, Walter Aubrey Thomas (architect of the iconic Royal Liver Building on the Liverpool waterfront), Gerald de Courcy Fraser, Charles Reilly and Herbert Rowse (architect of Martins Bank, Queensway Tunnel and India Buildings).

Waterfront and docks museums

In 2004, Liverpool's waterfront was declared as a UNESCO World Heritage site, reflecting the city's importance in the development of the world's trading system and dock technology.

The docks are central to Liverpool's history, with the best-known being Albert Dock: the first enclosed, non-combustible dock warehouse system in the world and is built in cast iron, brick and stone. It was designed by Jesse Hartley. Restored in the 1980s, the Albert Dock has the largest collection of Grade I listed buildings in Britain. Part of the old dock complex is now the home to the Merseyside Maritime Museum (an Anchor Point of ERIH, The European Route of Industrial Heritage), the International Slavery Museum and the Tate Liverpool. Other relics of the dock system include the Stanley Dock Tobacco Warehouse, which at the time of its construction in 1901, was the world's largest building in terms of area, and is still the world's largest brick-work building. Also the ill-fated passenger liner RMS Titanic was registered in Liverpool.
The Pier Head is the most famous image of Liverpool, the location of the Three Graces (a fairly recent phrase), three of Liverpool's most recognisable buildings. In order from north to south they are:

* The Royal Liver Building, built in the early 1900s and surmounted by two bronze domes with a Liver Bird (the symbol of Liverpool) on each.
* The Cunard Building, the headquarters of the former Cunard shipping company.
* The Port of Liverpool Building, the home of the former Mersey Docks and Harbour Board which regulated the city's docks.

They were built on the site of the former George's Dock and Manchester Dock.

Kings Dock immediately south of the Albert Dock is the site of the Liverpool Echo Arena and BT Convention Centre which officially opened on the 12 January 2008.

In front of these buildings at the water's edge are the memorials to the men of the merchant navy who sailed out of the port during both World Wars. Memorials to the British mariners, Norwegian, Dutch and to the thousands of Chinese seamen who manned Britain's ships cluster together here. Perhaps most interesting is the Chinese memorial to the men forcibly deported from the city after World War Two and to the families they left behind.

Places of worship

The thousands of migrants and sailors passing through Liverpool resulted in a religious diversity that is still apparent today. This is reflected in the equally diverse collection of religious buildings, and two Christian cathedrals.
The parish church of Liverpool is the Anglican Our Lady and St Nicholas, colloquially known as "the sailors church", which has existed near the waterfront since 1257. It regularly plays host to Catholic masses. Other notable churches include the Greek Orthodox Church of St Nicholas (built in the Neo-Byzantine architecture style), and the Gustav Adolfus Kyrka (the Swedish Seamen's Church, reminiscent of Nordic styles).
Liverpool's wealth as a port city enabled the construction of two enormous cathedrals, both dating from the 20th century. The Anglican Cathedral which was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and plays host to the annual Liverpool Shakespeare Festival, has one of the longest naves, largest organs and heaviest and highest peals of bells in the world. The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral, on Mount Pleasant next to Liverpool Science Park was initially planned to be even larger. Of Sir Edwin Lutyens' original design, only the crypt was completed. The cathedral was eventually built to a simpler design by Sir Frederick Gibberd; while this is on a smaller scale than Lutyens' original design, it still manages to incorporate the largest panel of stained glass in the world. The road running between the two cathedrals is called Hope Street, a coincidence which pleases believers. The cathedral is colloquially referred to as "Paddy's Wigwam" due to its shape and the vast number of Irish men who worked on its construction and are living in the area.
Liverpool contains several synagogues, of which the Grade I listed Moorish Revival Princes Road Synagogue is architecturally the most notable. Princes Road is widely considered to be the most magnificent of Britain's Moorish Revival synagogues and one of the finest buildings in Liverpool. Liverpool has a thriving Jewish community with a further two orthodox Synagogues, one in the Allerton district of the city and a second in the Childwall district of the city where a significant Jewish community reside. A third orthodox Synagogue in the Greenbank Park area of L17 has recently closed, and is a listed 1930s structure. There is also a Lubavitch Chabad House and a reform Synagogue. Liverpool has had a Jewish community since the mid-18th century. The current Jewish population of Liverpool is around 3000.
Liverpool also has an increasing Hindu community, with a Mandir on 253 Edge Lane; the Radha Krishna Hindu Temple from the Hindu Cultural Organisation based there. The current Hindu population in Liverpool is about 1147. Liverpool also has the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in L15.
The city had one of the earliest mosques in Britain, founded in 1887 by William Abdullah Quilliam, a lawyer who had converted to Islam. This mosque, which was also the first in England, however no longer exists. Plans have been ongoing to re-convert the building where the mosque once stood into a museum. Currently there are three mosques in Liverpool: the largest and main one, Al-Rahma mosque, in the Toxteth area of the city and a mosque recently opened in the Mossley Hill district of the city. The third mosque was also recently opened in Toxteth and is on Granby Street.

Other notable buildings and main museums

The area around William Brown Street has been labeled the city's 'Cultural Quarter', owing to the presence of the William Brown Library, Walker Art Gallery and World Museum Liverpool, just three of Liverpool's neo-classical buildings. Nearby is St George's Hall, perhaps the most impressive of these neo-classical buildings. It was built to serve a variety of civic functions, including both as a concert hall and as the city's law courts. Its doors, inscribed "S.P.Q.L." (Latin senatus populusque Liverpudliensis—"the senate and people of Liverpool"), as well as its grand architecture proclaim the municipal pride and ambition of the city in the mid-nineteenth century. Also in this area are Wellington's Column and the Steble Fountain.
Liverpool's Town Hall dates from 1754 and has an interior which is well-regarded architecturally. The city's stock exchange and financial district are set immediately behind this building, and show how closely government and commerce were tied in the city's development.
At 40 storeys, West Tower is Liverpool's tallest building.
The Adelphi Hotel on Ranelagh Street is the most famous hotel in Liverpool and was very popular in the days when luxury liners crossed the Atlantic when it was described as the great Cunard liner stuck in the middle of the city. A 'fly-on-the-wall' TV documentary series was made on it and its staff.
The Atlantic Tower hotel near pier head was designed to resemble the prow of a ship to reflect Liverpool's maritime history.
The term Red Brick University, applied to British universities dating from a similar period, was inspired by the University of Liverpool's Victoria Building, noted for its clock tower.
Some of Liverpool's landmarks are better known for their oddness rather than for their role. The Williamson Tunnels are architecturally unique as being the largest underground folly in the world. The Philharmonic Dining Rooms are noteworthy for their ornate Victorian toilets, which have become a tourist attraction in their own right.
On Renshaw Street there is the new alternative shopping centre Grand Central Hall—which has not only fine external architecture but also has much to offer inside, such as the metalwork and ceiling decoration of the Ground floor and the fantastic domed ceiling of Roscoe Hall. It was originally built in 1905, under the guidance of the Methodist Church, as a 2,000-seat cinema. The original organ of Roscoe Hall still remains and is a listed item itself, although recent shop additions to the hall have obscured the view somewhat.
In the south of the city, the art deco former terminal building of Speke Airport, used from the 1930s to 1986, has been adapted for use as a hotel, and is now the Crowne Plaza Liverpool John Lennon Airport. The terraces from which fans welcomed home The Beatles have been preserved.

Parks and gardens

The English Heritage National Register of Historic Parks describes Merseyside’s Victorian Parks as collectively the "most important in the country". "