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Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 6 July 1933
The Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, one of the finest concert halls in England, was destroyed by fire which broke out early last evening. Only the shell was left standing, and the fire is still burning at 12 30 this morning.
A workman on the roof of the new extension to the Liverpool Radium Institute, across the roadway, saw flames coming from the roof about seven o'clock. About the same time the caretaker of a neighbouring Unitarian Church noticed smoke coming up from the roof, and, realising that the hall would not be heated in summer, he summoned the Fire Brigade.
Almost as soon as the brigade arrived the roof fell in. Sheets of flame were clearly visible from a great distance. Many thousands of people filled the streets, and hundreds came in from the suburbs and from Wirral to watch the fire. The heat was so intense that firemen were busy playing hoses on the lamp standards in the streets in front of the hall. Within a short time 12 engines and over a hundred firemen were on the scene. The Liverpool Salvage Corps, a private body maintained by the insurance companies to protect their interests by saving as many valuables as possible, was there almost as soon as the fire brigade.
The Philharmonic Hall is in the middle of the hospital quarter, and in one of Liverpool's two danger zones. At the city end is the School for the Blind, and opposite is the Radium Institute. At one time the police thought that there was a danger to the hospitals from a threatened fall of the walls, and the patients were warned and dressed, so that they might be ready to leave at a moment's notice. The walls seemed to lean forward and women in the crowd shrieked in terror. Nearby a party of St. John Ambulance Brigade was drilling. They turned out with their stretchers and first-aid equipment within ten minutes of the alarm being given. When the roof collapsed several firemen and salvage men had narrow escapes from death. The only casualties were two slight cases of burning.
It is believed that the value of the building and contents was in the neighbourhood of £100,000. Several treasures in the building were saved by the salvage men, notably a tablet to the memory of the musicians on the Titanic, erected by the Philharmonic Society out of the proceeds of a special concert. The greater part of the extensive collection of music was also salvaged. It is believed, however, that Ted Stansfield's double bass has been burned. Stansfield is the Halle Orchestra double-bass player, and this instrument, which he made himself, has an inscription from Sir Hamilton Harty.
This building replaced the original Philharmonic Hall, which burnt down in 1933
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