in the city. Covering five floors, the main body of the building is 80 ft tall to the cornice. The main entrance is located in the centre of the river-facing side of the building and is flanked by two three-metre-high stone statues of women representing "Commerce" and "Industry", which were designed by Charles John Allen. Each corner of the building is canted and has a tall hexagonal turret that is topped by a stone cupola, which would have originally been crowned by a lantern. Because the building has a large central dome, it has been compared architecturally to many other buildings throughout the world, including Belfast City Hall, the Capitol Building, St. Peter's Basilica and St. Paul's Cathedral. The Port of Liverpool Building was constructed using a reinforced concrete frame, which not only made the building structurally strong, but also much more fire resistant than buildings in the past. As a result of being built on the site of the former George's Dock, the building required deeper foundations than normal and in total some 35,000 tons of cement were used. Due to the building's proximity to the River Mersey, extensive work was carried out during the development of the basement level in order to make sure it was water resistant. Asphalt was used extensively to coat the floors and walls of the basement, in order to make sure it stayed dry. Internally, the building's form centres on a full-height, octagonal hall that sits below the central dome. The hall has round, arched openings from the first floor upwards, providing large gallery spaces, whilst its floor is decorated with a mosaic depicting the points of a compass. Office spaces are located off long central corridors, which are decorated with white Calacatta Marble. A large portion of the building costs (approximately 25%) were spent on decorations and fittings; the inside of the building is lavishly decorated using expensive materials including mahogany from Spain and oak from Danzig for the woodwork, bronze for the floor furniture and fittings, and white marble for the floors and walls. One noted interior feature is the grey granite grand staircase, which is lined with stained glass windows adorned with images of Poseidon, anchors, ships bells and shells and dedications to countries of the British Empire including Singapore, South Africa, Canada and Australia. The grand nature of the inside of the building's interior has meant that it has