I have come across a newspaper article in which the Provost of Birmingham ( Ven J R Richards) was being praised for giving over his official residence for use as a soldiers' social/ recreational club. He and his wife ( my great aunt Gladys) lived in two rooms in the house. In 1944 a plaque was put up in the house to commemorate this. Does anyone know any more? Does the house still exist?
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Provost's house in WW2 Birmingham Servicemens Club
- Thread starter TriciaJ
- Start date
MWS
from Bham
Listed at 4 St Phillip's Place on the 1945 map. There is a building still with that address but if it's new or the same one with alterations I'm not sure. Part of the building does have a strange little shape that seems to match the old map though.
Hopefully will be able to say for certain.
Hopefully will be able to say for certain.
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Richard Dye
master brummie
My my how things have changed!
A couple of views of the house from the Aeriel views of Birmingham thread. These would have been pre-redevelopment of most of that side of the churchyard (before the Halifax Building Soc office buiding was built - possibly late 1950 s ?). As MWS pointed out in post #2 that there might still be some of the house still there (at least the frontage, but possibly all of it) - see the brown building with the flagpole in the centre of the modern Streetview.
A nice piece of Brum history. I've extended the title of this thread. Viv
A nice piece of Brum history. I've extended the title of this thread. Viv
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This is another of those buildings that I've walked past countless times and never really noticed it. I think when the Bluecoat School was replaced by the Halifax Building Society offices, that tended to dominate this row. It looks like the Provist's House is now the oldest of those along that row. A nice symmetrical building with many classical features. Good to see its been retained. Viv.
There was some reconstruction work carried out behind the facade in the 1980s. More recently the interior has again been modernised and the top floor of the building seems to have been radically changed on the exterior. Sadly I think it would be unlikely that the plaque has survived these reconstruction projects over time.
Today the interior is now very modern (various office space/suites) - would be unrecognisable to those using the building 80+ years ago. Perhaps the staircase(s) would still be familiar?
So today we're probably looking at, effectively, an early facade with some changes to the top floor and an interior radically different to that of the Provost's House. Viv.
Today the interior is now very modern (various office space/suites) - would be unrecognisable to those using the building 80+ years ago. Perhaps the staircase(s) would still be familiar?
So today we're probably looking at, effectively, an early facade with some changes to the top floor and an interior radically different to that of the Provost's House. Viv.
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