Cornelius Sherlock

[3] Sherlock became a member of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire in 1850[4] and he was made a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1878.

[7] Sherlock, along with co-architect H. H. Vale, were presented by Lord Sandon to the Duke of Edinburgh at the laying of the foundation stone in 1874.

[9] After this date, Vale's name no longer appeared on architectural documentation and Sherlock claimed credit for the entire design.

His choice of a Classical rotunda surrounded by a colonnade of Corinthian columns is considered a graceful solution to turn the corner of the street, and together with the Walker gallery and the Brown library, the Picton forms part of a Neoclassical ensemble that was acclaimed by the public library advocate Thomas Greenwood as "without doubt the finest pile of buildings for this purpose in the whole United Kingdom and Ireland".

[11] The firm was responsible for a number of prominent buildings in Liverpool, such as the Florence Institute ("The Florrie"), which was designed by Keef.