The Cunard Building
Susie Stubbs
The 1916 Cunard Building is a different beast to the other Graces, its interior once a head office and a class-segregated waiting room for those waiting to use Cunard’s transatlantic steamers. Identity and migration and nationalism pull tightly across its grand Portland Stone frontage; even its restrained classical façade screams stiff upper lip, chaps. Yet now it is a glorified office block, an entire floor empty as the recession nips at its River Mersey-cooled heels. Closed for public access, but nevertheless a worthwhile stop on a walking tour.