Built in the Queen Anne style for the Blue Coat School in 1717, the building is the oldest in the city centre. It is Grade One listed and part of Liverpool's UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Blue Coat School moved to more spacious premises in 1906 and the building was threatened with demolition until W H Lever, the local soap magnate and founder of Lever Brothers, bought it and allowed the University of Liverpool's School of Architecture to use it for teaching.

The University, with Lever's financial support, established the world's first school for the teaching of town planning at the Bluecoat in 1909. At the same time Lever renamed the building 'Liberty Buildings' in recognition of his win in a libel case against the Daily Mail, the outcome of which saw him walk away with the largest sum that had ever been awarded in court.

Other parts of the building were occupied by the Sandon Studios Society, which counted Augustus John and Charles Rennie Mackintosh among its honorary members. In 1911 the Society displayed a selection of works from the first Post-Impressionist exhibition that had recently been shown in London. It included pieces by Picasso, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Matisse and Gauguin, as well as a number of British artists.

The death of Lever in 1925 meant that the Bluecoat was once more up for sale and a public appeal, led by members of the Sandon Studios Society, raised enough money for the building to be bought and run by a charitable trust called the Bluecoat Society of Arts.

Severe bombing in 1941 damaged much of the building and destroyed the south east wing. The building was repaired and re-opened but the wing was not rebuilt until recently when the Bluecoat underwent a multi-million pound redevelopment and re-opened in March 2008 during Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture.

Many famous individuals have fond memories of the Bluecoat including Sir Simon Rattle, who came to the building for violin lessons, and Yoko Ono, who gave her first paid performance at the Bluecoat in 1967. Yoko returned for a special performance to celebrate the re-opening of the building in 2008.

Today the Bluecoat is Liverpool's creative hub and is home to a community of over 30 creative industries including artists, designers, craftspeople and retailers. The longest standing occupant is the Bluecoat Display Centre, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2009.