North John Street Ventilation Station Horse Head

On the opposite side of North John Street from the Royal Insurance Building is one of the ventilation shafts for the Mersey Road Tunnel. It’s not as grand an affair as the Georges Dock Ventilation Tower and Central Station with its statues and other decoration but it does merit Grade II listing. It’s quite a hard structure to get a photograph of because its wide but also very tall – at 60m its the 17th equal tallest structure in Liverpool. Hidden away high above the street, along the top of the bulk of the building, below the shaft itself is a thin, art deco decoration with a horse’s head at each end.  Yet another example of the treasures hidden in Liverpool’s architecture if you look up from the street sometimes.