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In Showells Dictionary a "Hen and Chickens Arcade" is mentioned. It was connected to the H&C hotel in New Street and exited onto Worcester Street. Would this later become the Burlington Arcade ? Viv.
Hen and Chickens Hotel was further down New Street than Burlington Passage. This map is dated 1890 shows Burlington Passage and also the Hen and Chickens marked as Hotel next to King Edwards School. Burlington Arcade is where the word "Burlington" is on the map.
Thanks Janice. Wonder if the proposal in Showell's Dictionary never came to fruition then. It would have been a reasonably sized arcade with 24 shop units. So I would expect it to have shown up on maps. The plans must have been for an 'L' shaped arcade if it was to exit onto Worcester Street. Viv.
Looking at this map that Mossg originally posted on the Great Western Arcade thread, my guess is perhaps it was planned as a continuation of (although not joined to) the Midland arcade that exited on the other side of New Street. Birmngham seems to have gone through a period of arcade mania in the 1800s ! Viv.
I don't think any buildings around 1910 will have any relevance, as the c1889 map shows a blank, and the 1890s Goad insurance map is marked "Ruins". However the Pigott Smith map c 1828 does seem to show some sort of arcade. The Hotel name is marked, though is not very easy to read as the hotel seems to have large open spaces, presumably the arcade.
Mike I know you have subscription to newspapers - there are some articles which refer to the Hen and Chickens Arcade. Birmingham Post 1884 and 1885. I can see titles but cannot read as I don't subscribe.
You are right Janice. I had thought it was a bit earlier, and did not read the whole extract. Not sure what is shown on the c1828 map. It looks very complicated. There is another reference in Showell that says an aquarium was to hav ebeen built behind it , but was not, an arcade replacing it . there is a little mor ein the newspaper archives from the birmingham post on 11.2.1884 & 3.4.1884. there seems no other mentions come up, so I suspect that it was never built. Possibly the company either could not raise all the money, or , once it got control of the site, thought of a more profitable use
Yes Janice, that's an impressive plan for the arcade. Pity it didn't go ahead. Can we pinpoint exactly where it would have been on a later map please ? Would it have been where the Arden Hotel was ? Viv.
It seems to hav ebeen behind the Hen and Chickens, so would have been the back part of the arden, which went back furtgher thn the Arden, but also the part of the odeon behind the Arden.
Out of curiosity I checked out the architect and he designed quite a number of buildings in Birmingham. According to "Wikipedia" the following are notable.
Looking at the plans suggested in Mike's post #16 it seems the 'monstrous' entrance would have actually formed part of the arcade ("an approach to the arcade") along with the vestibule just inside the building. The plan was to widen the porch. So you do wonder if it would have looked even more out of proportion with the rest of the Georgian building if the arcade had gone ahead !!