Pictured here is the old overhead railway, colloquially known as the Docker’s Umbrella, supported by a backdrop of the Port of Liverpool Building and the recently completed Royal Liver Building. The railway, which opened in 1893, was only the second electric metro in the world at the time. It remained for 63 years before extortionate maintenance costs forced its closure in 1956. While it is unsure when this photo was taken, it is believed to have been captured in the early 1910s, as the Cunard Building (ground broken, 1914; completed, 1917) is not yet visible.  

​

Photograph believed to have be taken between 1911 and 1914.