[1][2] In 1757 members of a small literary club met in the house of William Everard, a teacher, to discuss reviews, periodicals and later books, which they circulated amongst themselves.

On 1 May 1758 the Liverpool Library was established and the books which were originally stored in a large chest in Everard's parlor were moved to a number of different premises around the city centre as the collection increased.

A proposal was put forward on 12 May 1800 to club members for the construction of a purpose built library in order to house their overflowing collection which had outgrown its current home on Lord Street.

[3][4] A design was accepted from architect Thomas Harrison of Chester which showed the building facing Church Street; this was later modified to fit local circumstances.

A petition called 'Save the Lyceum'[13] and the involvement of SAVE Britain's Heritage forced the government’s Department of the Environment to purchase the building.

However, a major national restructuring, resulting in a private company called Post Office Counters Ltd meant the plans could no longer go ahead due to limited resources.

Two years later, property developer Landlord Harbour View Estates bought the building for £7.8m only to put it up for sale again in 2008 for £4.25 million after the company went into administration.

[16] In 2010 John Doyle, a director of a property investment company, negotiated acquisition of the freehold, purchasing it from Anglo Irish Bank for £2.85m, a significant discount to its previous sale price of £7.3m.

The exterior is neoclassical in style and built with ashlar stone topped with a slate pitched roof that is part mansard.

The friezes are painted in grisaille to imitate classical relief sculpture and are said to be adapted from Parthenon and the Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae.

During its use it was furnished with a gallery running around it, featuring vases, books and busts of historic figures including; Shakespeare, Milton, Locke, Bacon, Homer and Virgil.