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Golden Boys

On Birmingham Updates - both Boulton, Watt & Murdoch and Iron: Man in Victoria Square are to go into storage until the end of 2018!

https://www.birminghamupdates.com/t...att-and-murdoch-and-iron-man-are-on-the-move/

Two of Birmingham’s most iconic statues – Boulton, Watt and Murdoch and Iron: Man – will be temporarily removed from their familiar sites, to allow ongoing transformation of the city centre to progress, in the coming weeks.

Preparations to remove Boulton, Watt and Murdoch on Broad Street are expected to begin in late August andIron: Man is expected to move in early September, as the next phase of regeneration works around Centenary Square and Paradise begins. Both will return to public view in late 2018.
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View of the 1 Arena Central site. Boulton, Watt & Murdoch statue in front. But it will be going soon!



On Broad Street, walked along the temporary path diversion in front of the Municipal Bank, but it then makes you go around the hoardings and past the statue. They also moved the bus stops.
 
This was where they were until a few weeks ago!



This sign is opposite the Library of Birmingham and REP on the Centenary Square hoardings.

 
Radiorails said:
I thought the Golden Boys were another pop group I never heard of. Thanks to post 96 I am now enlightened. :D
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Hey, when do we start the group, that is one really catchy name and I am sure there are sufficient of us from the golden age in our golden years and etc and etc..............
Bob
 
Bob Davis said:
Hey, when do we start the group, that is one really catchy name and I am sure there are sufficient of us from the golden age in our golden years and etc and etc..............
Bob
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Well, one thing is for sure Bob, you don't need to be a good singer to be in a pop group. :D
 
A reminder from 2009 outside the now demolished House of Sport / ex Register Office. They have been in storage since last year (I think).

Boulton, Watt & Murdoch by William Bloye.



 
Willian Bloye started working on this in the early 1950s He used men, dressed in the period correct costumes as models. I even got to model in clay, the figures. as a project in 1951 before I went in RAF
 
For those in Birmingham, or who plan to visit in September, there is a small exhibition on the work of William Bloye running at the Gunmakers Arms Sept 3rd-29th. Possibly a good place to relax after visiting one of the Heritage Week happenings

William Bloye and the Art Deco building of Birmingham

· Hosted by Gunmakers Arms

Kevin's exhibition celebrates the neglected work of William Bloye and the Art Deco building of Birmingham. William Bloye was Birmingham's unofficial civic sculptor.

His work can be seen all over Birmingham adorning everything from Art Deco gems to Pubs and even a supermarket! William James Bloye ARBSA (8 July 1890 – 6 June 1975) William Bloye studied, and later, taught at the Birmingham School of Art (his training was interrupted by World War I when he served in the Royal Army Medical Corps from 1915 to 1917. He also studied stone-carving and letter cutting under Eric Gill around 1921. In 1925 he became a member of the Birmingham Civic Society, His studio was at 111, Golden Hillock Road, Small Heath, Birmingham where a blue plaque now marks the spot. As Birmingham's unofficial civic sculptor he worked on virtually all public commissions including libraries, hospitals and the University. He often carved bas-relief plaques, typically for public houses in Birmingham, and decorated many buildings by the architect Holland W. Hobbiss.
 
Bennetts hill, one of the cavings, done by his workers, including me, a mere apprentice. I worked at the studio, in an old two-story Victorian house, that was on Golden Hillock Rd. There was a roundabout, that the motorbike testers from BSA raced around, Mr. Bloye his personal studio, was in the back of the property, Mr. Bloye had many different projects. that we worked on. repairing plaster cornices on old stately homes from bomb damage. Painting train time posters. Carving inscriptions at Lodge Hill Cemetary are a few that I worked on, for the three years, I was there until I went in RAF age 18. I may be the oldest that is still alive, that worked for him
 

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Would anyone have a photo of the House, on Golden Hillock Rd That Mr. Bloyes studio was in, that I worked at in the 1950s???
 
i am no expert on plinths but it just looks like a brick wall to me:D although looking at what the boys are sitting on on post 101 it could be a plinth after all
 
If I look at the back view of the "boys" as shown in #61 it looks similar in design to the "plinth" in #108. I wondered if it was going to be capped in some way with stone before the "boys" were positioned.
 
Pretty sure they will use the original plinth. If it's at the Birmingham Museum Collection Centre, may check it out if I go on Sunday on one of those heritage buses.

Then again the original Robert Peel plinth was left in Calthorpe Park and they put him on a modern one!



 
ellbrown said:
A reminder from 2009 outside the now demolished House of Sport / ex Register Office. They have been in storage since last year (I think).

Boulton, Watt & Murdoch by William Bloye.



Click to expand...

I remember just after one New Years Eve in the mid 60's , the central figure of this monument was seen holding a park drive packet, struck me as funny at the time
 
This one survives in the Birmingham Museum Collection Centre which you can see on an Open Day tomorrow! Also my Raymond Mason.

"A Tragedy in the North. Winter, Rain and Tears"
depicts a scene after a mining disaster in the north of France.
It is made from epoxy resin and painted with acrylic.

 
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