00:00The Cunard Building Heritage Tours have returned once again and are running right throughout the summer months.
00:07I've been to get the inside scoop on this piece of Liverpool's history.
00:11So join me as I head inside and explore the youngest of Liverpool's Three Graces.
00:16We've got the Three Graces and we're actually in Cunard which is the baby of them all.
00:21It actually came into use in 1916 and what we kind of missed the point of,
00:25it came into use by what is probably the world's greatest cruise company, Cunard.
00:31So this was the headquarters from the 1916 to the 1960s.
00:35You get to see the various levels and the class structure within the arrivals hall
00:39where nearly every passenger would have gone through this.
00:42So you came from here and then sailed off to the New World.
00:44The guided visits are led by members of the heritage team
00:47and focus on the history of the waterfront landmark.
00:50We're really pleased to be able to show you the storage downstairs
00:54where the gold and the jewellery was kept in these huge safes and vaults.
00:58And then you go into probably a bit more emotive of the human side
01:01is where all the storage and the racking is still in marketing
01:05to first class, second class and steerage.
01:08But it's just great to feel you're part of it
01:11and you can feel a warmer history still in the building.
01:14The building served as the headquarters of the Cunard line
01:17and formed part of Liverpool's long association with transatlantic travel.
01:22We've shown some examples downstairs where there's like the travel cases
01:27from former Lord Mayor, Joseph Mayer, who's got a statue in St. George's Hall
01:31and you see these cases, they're just robust
01:33and that's where all fashion comes from, from Louis Vuitton and the new designs.
01:38Visitors are taken to areas that are normally closed to the public
01:42including basement spaces and the historic arrivals hall.
01:46The tour, lasting around an hour, examines how the site operated
01:49during the height of ocean liner travel.
01:51There's commentary about why weren't the Three Graces bombed.
01:54There's a story where the German pilots were used as a guideline to go over the city
01:58so why would they destroy that?
02:01But in the basements, as you say, there's reinforced steel
02:04and you can still see the iconography of all the different bays and air raid shelters.
02:10It was reinforced to, if it was bombed, it would be protected.
02:13As well as the architectural features associated with the building's Beaux-Arts design,
02:18along the way you get a real sense of the experiences of people connected with the place.
02:23Those accounts include workers, ship passengers and those leaving Liverpool
02:27in the hope of starting a new life in the United States.
02:32We've got two and a half thousand listed venues.
02:35There must be easily 7,000 points of interest across the city
02:39and the idea is we create this awareness of our heritage
02:42and one nice point that we can do as a councillor is we'll look into
02:45any funds that we raise from the tours is going to be reinvested
02:48into entry-level projects such as the repair to Kitty Wilkinson's grave,
02:53Huskinson's memorial, the trellis on the organ in St George's Hall,
02:57the mints and tiles and on it goes.
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