Liverpool's City Historian
retires
LIVERPOOL'S City Historian has been
presented with a unique 3D model of the Town Hall at a special retirement
presentation. Steve Binns, who has been blind since birth; has run guided
tours of the Town Hall and St George's Hall since 1990; explaining in vivid
descriptive detail the history of buildings that he has never actually seen.
He relies on memory and a precise knowledge of a building's positioning, layout
and design features when doing his tours. His work led to him receiving an MBE,
from HRH Prince Charles, in 2004, and an Honorary Degree, from Liverpool John
Moores University, for History, in 2007.
Lord Mayor, Councillor Malcolm Kennedy, gave him a model of the original Town
Hall in a surprise presentation this afternoon. He said:- "Steve is as
much a Liverpool institution as any of the famous buildings that he gives tours
of, and we are very sad to see him retire. He has entertained thousands of
visitors and tourists over many years, giving them an in depth picture of the
history of our amazing City. What is so remarkable is that he has done all of
that without actually seeing any of the buildings that he knows every inch of.
He has been a fantastic servant to the City and I am delighted to have been able
to present him with a unique momento of the original Town Hall on the occasion
of his retirement."
The model that has been created is of the Town Hall that preceded the current
building and was built in the late 1600's.
It was sited where the Royal Bank of Scotland is now located, at the Junction of
Dale Street and Exchange Street East, and was known as the Exchange, because the
Ground Floor had an open Colonnade for merchants and market traders to carry out
their business.
The model has been created by architectural firm Arup, Senior Technician Chris
Jackson, said:- "We've been pleased to use our 3D print technology at Arup
to create the model presented to Steve today. We used photogrammetry to create
the 3D mesh, which allowed us to develop a digital recreation of the original
model without removing it from its enclosure. It is so accurate that the print
even includes the same imperfections of the original building; allowing Steve to
not only better understand the form of the old Town Hall building, but also
allowing him to feel the history of the model created by J.R. Cafferata in
1851."