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Lewis's Department Store

DavidGrain said:
Viv, I can't quite place the position of the shop as I would have expected Bull Street to be showing obviously next to the store.
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The building of Lewis's progressed in this order. First they purchased to Corporation St Corner of Bull Street and rebuilt and refitted that (map1), next they acquired Berlin House and did the same there (map2) Lastly they purchased Newbury's department store and after a complete rebuild joined both stores together at each end of The Minories from the first floor to the roof giving us the store that most of us remember (map 3)

just click on the maps to enlarge.
 

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That walk across the minories from the one store to the other, was it across a creaky wooden floor on the top floor. Seem to remember it as a child, don't remember it in later times.
 
re pic 2 post 671 showing on the right what i believe is the old meeting house...could these 2 inside shots be of the same building...the windows look the same shape..dated 1882 there again i think there was more than one meeting house/churchNo 41 Old Meeting Church Girls School Room Birmingham c1882.jpgNo 95 The Old Meeting Church Boys School Room 2 Birmingham c1882 (Education).jpg

hover over pics to read caption

pics courtesy of newman uni archives
 
As a nipper, I remember seeing the Dr. Who Darleks at Lewis's also I can remember begging my Mom & Dad to buy me my first ever single: Sun Arise by Rolf Harris so it must have been early 60's.
 
Astonb6 said:
As a nipper, I remember seeing the Dr. Who Darleks at Lewis's also I can remember begging my Mom & Dad to buy me my first ever single: Sun Arise by Rolf Harris so it must have been early 60's.
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Astonb6 I used to think that record was great way back then, I wouldn't shout so loud about it now knowing what we do now about said gent
 
Williamstreeter said:
Astonb6 I used to think that record was great way back then, I wouldn't shout so loud about it now knowing what we do now about said gent
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Oh, it gets much worse than that! In 1977 I was living in Bournemouth and was going out with a girl who lived in Christchurch.

Her parents had an art shop in the town high street and they used to sell some of his paintings and therefore were friends with him. Rod Hull was supposed to be appearing at the Pavilion one night but became ill so Rolf Harris stepped in to cover the night and came to their house to have tea before the show and I meet him with my girlfriend and her parents.

At the time he appeared a friendly guy and I was thrilled to tell him my first ever 45 single was actually a song from him.

Apart from chatting nothing else happened which on reflection was lucky as my girlfriend was a very pretty young lady.

Such a shame people like that can be so charming and then commit such awful acts to other human beings. Needless to say, I don't play the song anymore so no, even after meeting him, I'm not shouting about it - I was just talking about my innocent visit to Lewis's.
 
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My grandfather Gerald de Courcy Fraser was the architect to the Lewis’s company so not surprisingly his office was in Liverpool. He designed the Lewis’s stores in Liverpool (twice) 1910-23 and 1931-32, Birmingham 1924-25 and 1931-32, Glasgow (now Debenhams) 1932, and Leicester 1939 (demolished except for the tower). He designed at least 8 other large buildings in Liverpool or nearby, and several of these are currently being redeveloped (as in Birmingham) for a change of use. He also designed the pre-war Owen Owen store in Coventry, the first large modern building in the city, which opened in 1937 and was bombed the same night as the cathedral 14/15 November 1940. There is a surprising amount of documentation on this store surviving in the Coventry Archives, which I am researching.
 
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For both the rebuildings of the Birmingham Lewis’s between 1924 and 1935 the Architect (my grandfather G de C Fraser) had an office in Temple Row (which leads into the Minories. Here his “resident representative” David Lumsden was based. After eleven years of presumably successful cooperation there was a bust up. Lumsden claimed he was a partner and sued the architect, who denied the claim. The press cutting I attach describes the court case in which the judge said both parties had been pretty childish. From Birmingham Daily Gazette 23 March 1936:
Mr D A Lumsden says he was a partner in a practice of architects and surveyors called “G de C Fraser and Lumsden.” The practice was at Temple Row, Birmingham, which is right beside the Birmingham Lewis’s building. The collaboration was from 04 March 1924 to 22 May 1935, “in respect to the rebuilding and extension of Lewis’s”. [This fits with the dates of Lewis’s first phase 1924-25 and the second 1931-32.] G de C said in court that it was not a partnership and that Mr Lumsden was his resident representative in Birmingham, on a commission basis. The judge said he that Mr Lumsden had been glad of the opportunity of being associated with Mr Fraser who was a distinguished architect.
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As I newcomer to the Forum I should like to tell you all how much I have enjoyed all the recent posts about Birmingham’s Lewis’s store. My grandfather Gerald de Courcy Fraser was the architect for the 1924-25 and 1931-32 rebuildings and later.
 
Hi reedwarbler

Welcome to you, it seems that you have a very interesting family connection. Is it possible that you have any documentation concerning or relating to the build and later rebuilds of the Birmingham Lewis's store that you could post to the forum as I'm sure a lot of the forum membership would find it fascinating?
 
As mentioned earlier, when my grandfather Gerald de Courcy Fraser was designing the Owen Owen store in Coventry, there was an acrimonious exchange of letters with various officials in Coventry. On 21 August 1936 he wrote to the City Engineer, talking about his experiences in building the Birmingham Lewis’s. The City Engineer had been saying that G de C’s plans for the foundations of the new building in Coventry were not good enough, and G de C is replying here, “Oh yes they are, look what I did at Lewis’s in Birmingham.” He calls the 1924-25 work the No.1 Building, and the 1931-32 part beyond the Minories is called the No.2 Building. So in the middle of this letter we have:

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Now my question for the forum is: What is this “further extension” which is about to begin in 1936?
 
The one thing I do miss about Xmas, is the walks along the window displays at Xmas time. what a joy that was
 
DID LEWIS’S 1961 EXPANSION HAPPEN?

In March 1961 the local press reported that Lewis’s was planning extensions to their Birmingham store, costing one and a half million pounds, which would increase the shopping area by 20% There would be a new building linked to the main store on the corner of Bull Street and Corporation Street. It was to be open before Christmas 1962. The new building would have 11 floors, two below ground level, and would continue the lines of the existing store while taking advantage of up-to-date building methods. The ground floor would be a goods unloading bay and parking space, with vehicles entering from Old Square and leaving by a bridge over Colmore Circus. The bridge would span a sunken garden and pedestrian area, part of Birmingham Corporation's plans for Colmore Circus. The architects were named as G. de C. Fraser Son and Gearey.

Can anyone help me with this, please? I can’t picture the location of this new building, or the bridge over Colmore Circus. Did it happen? If so, what is the new building now?
 
This 1968 pic shows the back of Lewis's from Colmore Circus but I'm not sure whether the building immediately behind the bus was part of Lewis's. It has all been replaced by new buildings.
Lewis's1968.jpg
 
The lower level of that building was a Chinese self service where I had my first taste of Chinese food. There was a fixed price and I think choice was very limited unlike the Chinese take-aways that came in soon afterwards.

The description of a bridge over Colmore Circus, was just, I suspect, a reference to the fact that the open space was below the level of the road which continued until the subways were taken away in most of the city centre.
 
DavidGrain said:
The lower level of that building was a Chinese self service where I had my first taste of Chinese food. There was a fixed price and I think choice was very limited unlike the Chinese take-aways that came in soon afterwards.

The description of a bridge over Colmore Circus, was just, I suspect, a reference to the fact that the open space was below the level of the road which continued until the subways were taken away in most of the city centre.
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I remember that Chinese place too. Was it China house or something like? As you say, quite a limited menu, chicken and beef curry’s with rice and chips. Maybe a noodle dish too.
 
Ooooh yes. I think it was the China Garden (although it might have been ‘House’). Always had chips and curry sauce in there. All the seating was low level, not a formal eating place. Lots of students used it as it was cheap. Viv.
 
oldMohawk said:
This 1968 pic shows the back of Lewis's from Colmore Circus but I'm not sure whether the building immediately behind the bus was part of Lewis's. It has all been replaced by new buildings.
View attachment 129674
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Your photo tells me what I certainly did not realise, that Lewis’s had expanded beyond the 1924-25 and the 1931-32 block (the bit that’s now called the “Lewis Building”) and had reached as far as Colmore Circus. This encouraged me to look again at the Google Maps satellite 3D view across the top of the Minories looking north. This gives a good picture of a large modern-looking building, with 9 stories above the ground, as described in the 1961 Birmingham Daily Post article. Your photo shows Lewis’s name on the Colmore Circus end of this.
 
DavidGrain said:
The lower level of that building was a Chinese self service where I had my first taste of Chinese food. There was a fixed price and I think choice was very limited unlike the Chinese take-aways that came in soon afterwards.

The description of a bridge over Colmore Circus, was just, I suspect, a reference to the fact that the open space was below the level of the road which continued until the subways were taken away in most of the city centre.
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Thank you for clearing up what had been puzzling me, the reference in the newspaper article to a bridge over Colmore Circus. This explains why I couldn’t find this “bridge” on present day maps. The newspaper’s description of delivery vehicles entering from Old Square and leaving at the Colmore Circus end of the expanded store now makes sense.
Do any members have memories of working in, or shopping in, this 1960’s part of Lewis’s?
 
reedwarbler said:
Thank you for clearing up what had been puzzling me, the reference in the newspaper article to a bridge over Colmore Circus. This explains why I couldn’t find this “bridge” on present day maps. The newspaper’s description of delivery vehicles entering from Old Square and leaving at the Colmore Circus end of the expanded store now makes sense.
Do any members have memories of working in, or shopping in, this 1960’s part of Lewis’s?
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If you have not already seen them, the aerial images below might interest you.
Lewis's from the east in 1950. Corporation St on the left.
Lewis's1950.jpg

Another view which brings back a few memories for me. It was taken in 1951 and shows members of the public on the roof. In the early 1950s we used to go to town on Saturday mornings and most times went on the roof.
Lewis's1951.jpg
images source 'britainfromabove'
 
Since this discussion started I have been thinking that I do remember some vehicle entrance to Lewis's onto Colmore Circus.
If we look back at the photo, we can see what were obviously vehicle doors on the left of the building.
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Perhaps the reason that they have not been clear in people's memory was because they were only visible from the road and most of us, especially those of us who have commented on the Chinese restaurant were more familiar with the view from the subway level. And if you start counting from the subway level it does come to 9 floors.
 
As mentioned earlier I visited Lewis's roof in the early 1950s but don't remember what looks like a minature golf course seen in this 1951 pic. Near the bottom can be seen people about to walk up a ramp into a doorway of a temporary building through which they emerge into a garden type area. Bull Street and Greys at the top of the pic. A second pic is an enlargement of part of the main pic. It could have been something else ... was it connected with the Festival of Britain Celebration?
Lewis'sRoof.jpg
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