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Baskerville House - Centenary Square

cookie273uk said:
Yes, never mind what the ratepayers want. All we have now is Saint Phillips. Other city centres have green areas to relax in. London has Hyde Park, Regents Park, Green park plus numerous squares, a large green area behind Parliament etc... Eric. We are supposed to be the 2nd City. Eric
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Eric
At the moment you do not even have St Phillips, as it is full of stalls, many just dispensing expensive tat
 
Go to St Paul's Square in the Jewellery Quarter. You can still sit and relax there. Or the Peace Garden or City Centre Gardens. Those are the only areas in the city centre that I can think of where you can now site and relax on a bench. Unless you go to Warstone Lane or Key Hill cemeteries!
 
I suppose its my age, I just prefer Birmingham City centre as it was before the 60's transformation. When is the finish date to all the present upheaval, assuming there is one, although I doubt if I will ever visit the City centre again. Eric
 
New paving in Centenary Square outside of Baskerville House, the Hall of Memory and the Library of Birmingham. Area around the Edward VII statue appears to be complete.

 
ellbrown said:
In 2009 before the library was built, you had your last chance to see the Flame of Hope



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It's enough to make me weep , living at No 59 Cambridge Tower Brindley Drive for a couple of years late 60's . I viewed this one time beautiful looking building and surrounding area from the balcony of the flat . Hate to echo the words of a certain royal but the entire area now says Carbuncle to me
 
I wonder if this sculpture "Industry and Genius" is going to be returned outside of Baskerville House. It is currently in storage.

Seen in 2009.

 
Janice
I can see that now there is a photo of it from above, but from the side it looks pretty boring
 
In the 1950s, the Civic Centre housed mainly the (as was) Public Works Dept and a few smaller departments that dealt with such things as Lighting, and Town Planning. I had never heard it called Baskerville House until I joined BHF in 2004, but I had been away from Brum for quite a few years. With so much being privatised, I have no idea what the structure of the Brum hierarchy is nowadays. The enormous Housing Dept., forever growing, was in Bush House when I left in 1961, but I gather that has outgrown the structure now.

I have to agree that Brum is one never ending bombsite and getting ever more hideous every year. But the destruction of Brum is now unstoppable as it is now in hock to so many financiers, and I can guarantee that none of them have any allegiance to the city. And that is progress? I don't think so.

Maurice
 
There has been a massive council office located on Woodcock Street near Aston University since 2011.



I think the Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street has an office inside of Baskerville House.

Would assume they renamed it Baskerville House in the early 1990s when the first Centenary Square was developed.
 
sospiri said:
In the 1950s, the Civic Centre housed mainly the (as was) Public Works Dept and a few smaller departments that dealt with such things as Lighting, and Town Planning. I had never heard it called Baskerville House until I joined BHF in 2004
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Agree with Maurice that the building used to be known as the Civic Centre. Photo below was taken by me on September 19th 1961 and labelled on the back "Civic Centre". Sorry if it looks as if it is leaning backwards a bit. The flag is seen flying at half-mast (more easily seen using a magnifying glass on the original). I wondered why this was and googled that date and the day before. One strong possibility is that the flag is flying at half-mast as the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjold, was killed in a plane crash in Africa the day before (September 18th 1961). Dave.
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Thanks for the photo, Dave, exactly as I remember it. I left in January of that year, when Smallbrook Ringway was just beginning to take shape, and guess that your assumption about the date is probably correct. At least we had some green grass then. I don't think I saw the City Centre again until around 1991 as my few visits to the Midlands were to the Sutton Coldfield area for a wedding and two funerals!

Maurices :cool:
 
June 2019 before the "new" Centenary Square was reopened in July. No cars can go round here now. And when the Metro extension opens on what was Broad Street, only trams.

 
Thanks Ell. It certainly looks much cleaner than in 1961 and there have been quite a few changes to the roof. Windows at the top-arch level and a large glassed-in area. Dave.
 
And I still think that the Library, with what appears to be a ship's funnel on top, just doesn't fit in with the other buildings in that area. To me it looks like a load of reinforcing mesh waiting for a coat of rendering to be applied!

Maurice :p
 
sospiri said:
And I still think that the Library, with what appears to be a ship's funnel on top, just doesn't fit in with the other buildings in that area. To me it looks like a load of reinforcing mesh waiting for a coat of rendering to be applied!

Maurice :p
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its always reminded me of a brillo pad maurice :D
 
thanks for that ell...lets hope they finish the job..not the largest job in the world really

lyn
 
Once saw this from the Library of Birmingham last year.

Pressure washing on Baskerville House.



That's how they do it.

 
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