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OLD BIRMINGHAM PHOTOS FROM STEVEBHx

Looking back towards the corner note the black frontage from the pollution and the entrance to the office at the middle. there are a number of names that no longer exist or I have never heard of. Note that there is on street parking - imagine !! Can I also point out the white circle is from where someone punched a hole in the picture!


5 Corporation Street 1975.jpg
 
Now this is 189 Corporation Street in 1968, firstly can I point out the two ladies looking out the window and if you zoom in the size of the typewriter. The price of televisions looks quite reasonable and I like the newspapers outside Finlays. If you look in the entrance of Ruskin chambers and see the name tabs, last time I went past it still looks like that !


189 Corporation Street 1968.jpg
 
Remember Ratners, looks like they are closing for the day, note the lady with flowers and shopping bag leaning on the bus stop and the lurkers - who don't want to queue but will move forward as the bus approaches from road the corner in New Street.

Ratners Corporation Street 1971.jpg
 
Apologies for the scaffolding but a quick shot across the road in 1971, lots to see, firstly the clock on the front of the shop , the wood clad litter bin and the old traffic light, and Dixons round the corner in Union Street. Nice selection of boots in the shop window.

Englands Corporation Street 1971.jpg
 
SteveBhx said:
Looking back towards the corner note the black frontage from the pollution and the entrance to the office at the middle. there are a number of names that no longer exist or I have never heard of. Note that there is on street parking - imagine !! Can I also point out the white circle is from where someone punched a hole in the picture!


View attachment 153065
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Great to see this photo. Kings is where I bought my Wife's engagement ring in December 1964
kings.jpg
 
post 242 look in the office window above fleet electrics...2 ladies looking out..the one on the right looks to be sitting at a typewriter
 
SteveBhx said:
Apologies for the scaffolding but a quick shot across the road in 1971, lots to see, firstly the clock on the front of the shop , the wood clad litter bin and the old traffic light, and Dixons round the corner in Union Street. Nice selection of boots in the shop window.

View attachment 153068
Click to expand...
I have other scaffolding shots from that block, closer though if anyone is interested?

Thanks oldjoe and Astoness I will post them tomorrow
Steve
 
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SteveBhx said:
Thought we would have a trip up town today - Corporation street in 1975, this street has always fascinated me with all the ornamental brickwork above shop level, arches balconies and little porticos also note the light strung between the buildings and the traffic light on the corner.

View attachment 153064
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Love this picture...We bought my wedding ring from Perry Greaves in 1969. Thank you Steve.
 
SteveBhx said:
Remember Ratners, looks like they are closing for the day, note the lady with flowers and shopping bag leaning on the bus stop and the lurkers - who don't want to queue but will move forward as the bus approaches from road the corner in New Street.

View attachment 153067
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Bought a cheap ring from Ratners in the sixties. Remember the comment he made about his own products....lost him his empire. Thanks for the memory Steve. Regards Sue
 
SteveBhx said:
Thought we would have a trip up town today - Corporation street in 1975, this street has always fascinated me with all the ornamental brickwork above shop level, arches balconies and little porticos also note the light strung between the buildings and the traffic light on the corner.

View attachment 153064
Click to expand...


In Roy Thornton's Victoria Buildings of Birmingham, and referring to Corporation Street, he starts from New Street to Fore street. He says Queen's Corner, on the corner of New Street, was designed to continue the lines of the Birmingham Daily Post Building in New St. around the corner, matching the cornices and semicircular arches window of the earlier building, although there were differences in detailing.

The application was made in 1879 and the architect was WH Ward.
 
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SteveBhx said:
Looking back towards the corner note the black frontage from the pollution and the entrance to the office at the middle. there are a number of names that no longer exist or I have never heard of. Note that there is on street parking - imagine !! Can I also point out the white circle is from where someone punched a hole in the picture!


View attachment 153065
Click to expand...
Roy Thornton says 3-7 Corporation St. combine to make another building of 1879 by WH Ward, known as Victorian Buildings. 5 stories high, with an atic, and 5 bays wide. There is a central entrance and contrasting treating to the windows at 1st and 2nd floor levels and to the head of the 3rd floor window...... Grade II listed building, faced with stone.

[ Historic England description ]
historicengland.org.uk

1-7, CORPORATION STREET, Non Civil Parish - 1034396 | Historic England

List entry 1034396. Grade II Listed Building: 1-7, Corporation Street. May include summary, reasons for designation and history.
historicengland.org.uk historicengland.org.uk
 
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SteveBhx said:
Now this is 189 Corporation Street in 1968, firstly can I point out the two ladies looking out the window and if you zoom in the size of the typewriter. The price of televisions looks quite reasonable and I like the newspapers outside Finlays. If you look in the entrance of Ruskin chambers and see the name tabs, last time I went past it still looks like that !


View attachment 153066
Click to expand...


Roy Thornton says Ruskin Buildings was designed by Ewen Harper, for Ewen Harper around 1899. The building is faced in red brick and yellow terracotta. Grade II listed.

historicengland.org.uk

RUSKIN BUILDINGS, Non Civil Parish - 1075606 | Historic England

List entry 1075606. Grade II Listed Building: Ruskin Buildings. May include summary, reasons for designation and history.
historicengland.org.uk historicengland.org.uk
 
Haha no, my lovely Gran was widowed twice before she was 50. She always said she wouldn't have another man "even if his hair was hung in gold"!!! which always made me laugh. She would likely be in the Bull Ring market or Lewis's china department (basement) looking for bargains. She also loved Barrows for their coffee...Blue mountain... the only indulgence that I knew she had, and believe me that would only be for high days and holidays. My Mom who loved her clothes, would be in C & A or Rackhams, and another ladies clothes shop in Bull Street I think, that she loved, called Paiges.
 
SteveBhx said:
Looking back towards the corner note the black frontage from the pollution and the entrance to the office at the middle. there are a number of names that no longer exist or I have never heard of. Note that there is on street parking - imagine !! Can I also point out the white circle is from where someone punched a hole in the picture!


View attachment 153065
Click to expand...
Think there must have been some cleaning.
1613478849635.png
 
SteveBhx said:
Now this is 189 Corporation Street in 1968, firstly can I point out the two ladies looking out the window and if you zoom in the size of the typewriter. The price of televisions looks quite reasonable and I like the newspapers outside Finlays. If you look in the entrance of Ruskin chambers and see the name tabs, last time I went past it still looks like that !


View attachment 153066
Click to expand...
1613479008071.png
 
SteveBhx said:
Remember Ratners, looks like they are closing for the day, note the lady with flowers and shopping bag leaning on the bus stop and the lurkers - who don't want to queue but will move forward as the bus approaches from road the corner in New Street.

View attachment 153067
Click to expand...
Leeds Building Society is at 33 to 35 Corporation Street and Ratners was at 33. Have included shop at 31 because I wonder if this is the same clock which can just be seen in Steve's photo.
1613479563068.png
 
Afternoon, 1980, 8 High Street Erdington, bit quieter than today, love the little mini and the roof on the sign makers, always loved going past there for the painted man up a ladder on the other end wall. Note also the new style bus stop sign.

8 High Street Erdington 80.jpg
 
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