Step inside two historic – and listed – Liverpool city centre buildings with these images taken as part of a heritage assessment of the properties.

The buildings – 10 Hockenhall Alley and 11-13 Cheapside – form part of the Princes Building complex which developers want to turn into serviced apartments and a hostel.

These images offer a glimpse at the condition of the vacant properties which will be transformed if the project is given the go-ahead.

Plans have been submitted to Liverpool council to convert the Cheapside warehouse into a hostel, with the adjacent 10 Hockenhall Alley expected to become its reception.

Heritage assessments carried out by Garry Miller Historical Consultancy Agency reveal the fascinating history of both sites.

Grade II listed 10 Hockenhall Alley is believed to have been built between 1765 and 1785 when the alley was laid out off Dale Street, one of the seven streets of medieval Liverpool. The workers’ dwelling stands alone after its neighbours were knocked down in the 1880s and was eventually used as a pharmacy, then clock repairer John Nelson’s workshop.

The brick built building still has original features including a small ground floor fireplace and narrow winder stair with rope handrail.

The heritage report said: “As a Grade II building 10 Hockenhall Alley is of high importance in the national context for its special architectural and historic interest as a unique survival of a late 18th century worker’s dwelling in Liverpool. In addition to its intrinsic qualities, the building makes an important contribution to the character of the Castle Street Conservation Area as a surviving remnant of the lost Georgian character of this area before its mid-late 19th century revitalization.”

Long-disused, 10 Hockenhall Alley became sandwiched by the Princes Building (which is not listed) and 11-13 Cheapside when they were built in the 1880s.

The five-storey Cheapside warehouse towers above 10 Hockenhall Alley and stands out with its huge blue loading bay doors running up the front of the building. Built in 1884, the Grade-II listed warehouse is fireproof – a sign of prestige at the time – and retains lots of original features.

The heritage assessment said: “It represents an important survival of a late 18th century fireproof Liverpool warehouse, which has survived unaltered both internally and externally and contains a complete set of original features including sheet iron doors and shutters, cast iron columns and hoists at either end. Its exterior is treated decoratively in polychrome brickwork, especially the main Cheapside elevation, which raises the building above the ordinary; this and its fireproof construction denotes it enjoyed some prestige.”

Both buildings are long disused and semi-derelict, but would be brought back into use if the planning application is approved. Princes Building is currently used a music studio and would be converted into serviced apartments in the scheme.

Planning documents reveal the internal features of the warehouse will be retained with the loading bay doors pinned back and windows inserted in the gap to introduce natural daylight to each floor. Any hoist machinery must be incorporated into the plans.

The Hockenhall Alley site will also be refurbished and all original features will be retained where possible.

Concluding the application, BLOK Architecture said: “Currently Princes Buildings, 11-13 Cheapside and 10 Hockenhall Alley are under utilised, run down, and in some cases at risk of further deterioration. Together they represent one of the last pieces of the regeneration jigsaw along Dale Street, which is once again reaffirming itself as one of Liverpool city centre’s key streets.”