The Stanley Dock Tobacco Warehouse

1901
Grade II

This gargantuan warehouse is on an unequalled heroic scale and it dominates the landscape in this part of Liverpool. 

It extends along the whole of the south front of Stanley Dock. It is 14 storeys high with 42 bays divided by seven loading bays and is said to be the largest warehouse in the world and the largest brick building in the world. 

Its construction absorbed 27 million bricks, 30,000 panes of glass and 8,000 tons of steel. 

It could accommodate 70,000 hogsheads of tobacco (each weighing 1,000 lbs). It was designed by A.G. Lyster, the Dock Engineer, but Arthur Berrington, an architectural draughtsman in Lyster's office, almost certainly had a hand in the brick and terracotta detailing. 

At high level on the west end in raised figures and letters are "MDE, 1900" and "Tobacco Warehouse." On the north (dock) side are a series of iron stairs. 

On the south side there are a number of later bridges linking to the south Warehouse. The area between The Tobacco Warehouse and South Stanley Warehouse is known locally as "Pneumonia Alley" because it is almost always in shade and often acts as a wind tunnel.