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Griffins/Gargoyles Shard End

A

arealpal

proper brummie kid
Hi all
Would anybody have any photos of the lewis,s and newburys store in birmingham town centre with the gargoyles/griffins on the top cafe area.As the griffins / gargoyles were transported to the yorks wood camping grounds owned by the birmingham boy scouts association.
alan
 
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I dont know if you allready know that the Griffins are still on York Wood estate,not far from the Scouts hut
 
thanks guys
i know the griffins are at the old site and are still there as i am gathering information of the old campsite but i was told there were 12 griffins on lewiss and there are only six on the old site so i was looking for a photo of the griffins on lewiss formerly newburys so i could count them up.Then the next thing is if there were 12 griffins on lewiss were did the other six go.
Thanks
Alan
 
I found this one.
Photo replaced, possibly not original

City Corporation St - Bull St New Lewis being built and removal of Newburys Griffins.JPG
 
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Dear Alan,

I have pictures of the Griffins ontop of Lewis's and will post them round to you. Apparently the Griffins at Newburys were on the roof top garden, some people say that you could not see them unless you were on the roof.
On my picture of Lewis's you can definatly see 6, 3 on each side to the front of the building. I cannot get hold of a picture that is of Lewis's from the back ( which might account for the other 6. Maybe someone out there can get hold of one or clarify the situation for us.

Julie
 
Dear All,

I am trying to find any information on how the Griffins / Gargoyles were transported from Lewis's to Yorks Wood Scout Campsite. They are exceptionally heavy. Also it is said that Lewis's ran a competition for people to vote for a worthy cause to have the Griffin/Gargoyles erected. Someone nominated the Scout Campsite, does anyone know who nominated the Campsite or who ran the competition.
The pieces of our jig saw for the campsite are slowly coming together thanks to all your responses, please keep them coming in. Any info is better than none at all.

Julie
 
anoraks said:
Dear Alan,

I have pictures of the Griffins ontop of Lewis's and will post them round to you. Apparently the Griffins at Newburys were on the roof top garden, some people say that you could not see them unless you were on the roof.
On my picture of Lewis's you can definatly see 6, 3 on each side to the front of the building. I cannot get hold of a picture that is of Lewis's from the back ( which might account for the other 6. Maybe someone out there can get hold of one or clarify the situation for us.

Julie
Click to expand...
Hi I hope you don’t mind but I’m looking for a photo with the gargoyles on top of Lewis building would you able to send me a copy please?

Thanx
Helen
 
Helen
Anoracks is now marked as a guest, which means he is no longer a member of the forum. He could still see you post as a non-member, but would have to rejoin to reply
 
Hi I’m very interested in the griffins/gargoyles that were on the roof of Lewis department store that are now in shard end. Does anyone know where I would find a photo of them on the roof before they were taken down only I’ve looked on google but can’t find anything.

Thank you
Helen
 
I have moved your post to a thread already posted on this subject. As you can see , you are not the only one searching for photographs
 
Does this help ? Not a great quality image I'm afraid. The griffins were originally for Newburys store, maybe other photos of Newburys might be of help too (but depends what you want photos for). Viv.

Screenshot_20230531_171246_Chrome.jpg
 
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And here's another posted by the late Phil on the Lewis's thread. Were they donated by Russia ? I somehow doubt it !

Viv.

Screenshot_20230531_172317_Chrome.jpg
 
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This image shows one of the griffins next to the cupola. But again the image isn't the clearest. Viv

Screenshot_20230531_172723_Chrome.jpg
 
I have to ask this; why would you have 12 griffins on the roof in the first place ? Viv
 
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Found these two - first one taken on Bull Street c1913, the second on Corporation Street. Obviously we're unlikely to find closer views of the griffins unless a good aeriel view can be found or one taken on the rooftop garden. I don't recall ever seeing an image of the garden on this building only on the later building. (And finding a pre-1920 aeriel view if one exists will be difficult). Viv
 

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In mythical terms one of the characteristics of griffins is to protect their nest eggs of gold. So symbolically they've been used as decorative features on buildings to suggest they're protecting markers of wealth (Remember Midland Bank's griffin logo ?). So I suppose that's why there were griffins atop the Newbury/Lewis's building. All the same, 12 griffins seems a bit excessive ! They are each 8ft tall and probably date back to the 1890s. Viv
 
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