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Birmingham University

A

Astonian

gone but not forgotten
Birmingham university began life as Mason,s College in the city centre,it was on the Bristol road. That the red brick campus was developed,
King Edward V11 and Queen Alexander made formal opening g in 1909 , the clock tower was dubbed Jo ,, in honour of
Sir Joseph Chamberlain, the first University Chancellor and a Major driving force behind many city improvements schemes
Astonian,,,,,,,,
 
These are now in the new Green Heart at the University of Birmingham.

Saved from the demolished main library.

Apparently they were done by William Bloye.





(I can't find a University of Birmingham thread). Also the usual search error of "of" being a common word!
 
From University Square now part of the Green Heart development.

New library on the left. The old one used to be to the right. Muirhead Tower is a prominent landmark here.





 
Thanks for moving the posts. Just wish the search would work better and come up with the result I want!

The Redbrick University! The Quadrant Range and Old Joe from Ring Road South. November 2018.

Built 1900-1909. Designed by Sir Aston Webb and Ingress Bell. Grade II* listed buildings.



Some of the new blocks on the Aston Webb Boulevard are of red brick.

Bournbrook Pavilion. Seen May 2018.

 
Birmingham Business School seen January 2018





Yesterday I noticed the start of a construction site to the right of here, so not sure you can now access the grassed area right now.
 
The North Gate and Lodges is now open again as the Green Heart has opened up at the University of Birmingham. The North Gate is on Pritchatts Road in Edgbaston.
Built in 1930, there used to be an Avenue that led down to the original buildings, until the old library was built in the late 1950s (demolished a few years ago for the Green Heart after the new library opened).





Left lodge



Right lodge



Gate



The Green Heart to Old Joe (bit bright from that side at midday).



The gates from Pritchatts Road.

 
No problem. Entrances I use include close to University Station / QE bus stops. Also a new entrance from the Aston Webb Boulevard (Selly Oak Bypass). Still an entrance on the Bristol Road but not really been through that one. Is also bus stops on Pritchatts Road for the X20, X21 and X22 (Platinum express services).
 
When I worked there in the 1960's I used the entrance via Grange Road, off Bristol Road. Is that entrance still used?

G
 
Where about was that as the Selly Oak Bypass / Aston Webb Boulevard opened in 2011 going off the Bristol Road at Bournbrook.

The South Gate is the only entrance on the Bristol Road.

 
ellbrown said:
No problem. Entrances I use include close to University Station / QE bus stops. Also a new entrance from the Aston Webb Boulevard (Selly Oak Bypass). Still an entrance on the Bristol Road but not really been through that one. Is also bus stops on Pritchatts Road for the X20, X21 and X22 (Platinum express services).
Click to expand...
I always walked down Edgbaston Park Road and then often past the Barber Institute to the School of Education.
 
Grange Road, if it's any help, is where the old Ariel motor-bike factory used to be. It was just a short road, and opposite the junction of it with Bristol Road was (maybe still is) a pub, set back from the main Bristol Road. Sorry to be so vague, but it's decades since I've been in the area. It was always quicker to get off the 63 bus from town by that pub, than getting off at, and walking up, Edgbaston Park Road, which meant a longer walk (for me, at least) to the Chemistry Dept.

I wouldn't even know if Grange Road is still in existence!

G
 
The other day got off the no 76 bus on the Bristol Road and headed up what looks like on Google Maps to be Grange Road near The Goose pub. The road has been split at the end by the new bypass, with the entrance I went in yesterday near the new Pavilion building.

View below on Google Maps Street View.

Grange Road Bristol Road.jpg

The bridge near the bypass heads over the Bourn Brook. And the roads that goes around the sports pitches.
 
This view from the 76 bus heading down Dawlish Road in Selly Oak. Got off at the next bus stop on the Bristol Road. (this was yesterday - ended up in the area again today). The road next to The Goose is a short walk to the bypass and the entrance I used yesterday to get onto the campus.

 
Thanks Ellbrown. Yes, I remember the footbridge over Bourne Brook, and should have mentioned this in my previous post. The Ariel works began just past where the red car's parked. Takes me back a good few years!
IIRC there was also a gunsmith's factory on Grange Rd, on the RH side in your photo about where the road curves to the left.

Once you'd crossed the bridge, the main University sports fields were to the right, and if I remember correctly a few yards further on to the left were the main Engineering and Chemical Engineering buildings.

G
 
There's lots of new student accommodation blocks where all that was along the bypass. You probably wouldn't recognise the area apart from the surviving older buildings.

Few more views from today. The new University of Birmingham Library, seen from the Bristol Road in Selly Oak, close to the Battery Retail Park.



The Metalworks one of the new student blocks on the bypass. This view from the Selly Oak Shopping Park. Built on half the site of the former Battery works. The rest unbuilt on will one day be the Life Sciences Park for the University.

 
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The gunsmiths would probably have been Westley Richards, a Birmingham company in business for over 200 years. I think they have moved from there now to somewhere in the Newtown area
 
You're quite right, DG. Westley-Richards it was. I'm sure there have been posts on here about this company, but can't find them.

G
 
The Ashley Building - concrete building from the 1960s spotted from Edgbaston Park Road. Still standing!



These details in Pevsner:

The five-story Ashley Building brought together previously scattered departments, deliberately setting all sixty-nine tutors' rooms around a single atrium, through which coils a circular stair. It is the single best 1960s space in the University, rough but full of panache. The exterior is clad in full-height pre-cast panels that HKPA were among the first to use, while still working for the London County Council at Roehampton; here with distinctive protecting sills designed to throw off rainwater.

The Ashley Building was by Howell, Killick, Partridge & Amis, 1961-4.
Click to expand...
 
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North Gate in the sunshine near Pritchatts Road from the Green Heart.



Dame Barbara Hepworth's Ancestor 1 now has the Green Heart as a backing instead of the old library!

 
Re: the entrance onto the campus via Grange Road (see above), I've only just found out that the new A38 by-pass runs along the southern edge of the campus at the end of Grange Road and along the Bournbrook, therefore the old entrance no longer exists! However, it seems that Grange Road is still there.

G
 
Edgbaston Park Road some of the buildings seen on my walk (probably seen them before).

Westmere House



Park House and Park House Annex - just the lodge.

 
Many of the large houses in that area are now owned by the University. Not many families could afford those houses today.
 
There's also this one at Elms Nurseries.



And this one Elms Day Nursery.



Both pre-date the University.
 
Hi. I've just found this thread after much searching. I'm in the Lordswood Boys Technical School forum having attended there until coming the the University in 1964 to read pure math, though I spent more time playing badminton.
The gunworks was BSA (Birmingham Small Arms). The photos are very interesting. I was aware of some developments having visited last in 2009 (about).
Phil Neath
 
Due to the lockdown / pandemic there is currently no access to members of the public to the campus. There is barriers and a sign up at the Westgate near the entrance / exit to the Worcester & Birmingham Canal and University Station. No people with ID's can get onto the campus.





 
Aileen Howell was half sister to my grandmother (Edith Dorothy Bick). William Bick was my great Grandfather. My mother kept this article from the newspaper! I am struggling to find out where exactly the grounds that William Bick laid out at the University can be located. If anyone has any further info on William Bick, I would very much appreciate it! Attached is a cherished photo of William Bick next to the rock garden.
 

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