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See Birmingham by Post Card

Hi Stitcher, could it be that Rookery Park was the house name and perhaps there was no park at all? I don't know much about Erdington, so it's simply a stab in the dark.
 
Rookery House which is situated in Rookery Park, Kingsbury Road, Erdington, in North Birmingham, was built circa 1724/5 and is a white three storied Georgian mansion with a slated roof that contains some 36 rooms, with some Victorian additions including a number of outbuildings referred to in this plan as the Stables. The house is a Grade II listed building and contains plaster and timber mouldings, cast iron mouldings, unfurled Doric Columns at the entrance, and decorative columns in the ‘Ball Room’. Rookery House has, via the granddaughter of the original owner, associations with William Wilberforce whose actions led to the abolition of slavery in Britain.
 
Birmingham by Post Card

I know there is a picture further up this thread but this one shows the Art Gallery, which is still there and I am also just testing to see if I can load a picture successfully. I have always loved this picture, it is funnily enough post marked Swansea and being sent to Portsmouth which is where my lovely daughter now lives and it only cost a half penny to post!!!!!!!!


18-04-2012 15;47;033.JPG
 
And now I know I can do it, here's one of the Aston Hippodrome and the No 6 Tram, this one was never sent anywhere so have no idea of the date.



18-04-2012 15;47;032.JPG
 
Looks more like a painting than a photograph but on second thoughts it is probably a Black and White photo that has been artistically coloured. I would like Eric's opinion.

The grey car looks like a Ford Pilot which (if correct) would put the date around early 1950's possibly late 1940's
 
Looks quite like a paining but feel it is probably a black and white photo that has been cleverly coloured. I would like Eric's view.
 
The film/play 'The Planters Wife' starring Jack Hawkins was released in 1952, so I would imagine that was when it was painted.

Terry
 
birminghamdigbeth-620x413.jpg
I know we have a number of pictures of this old pub on the forum but this one is new to me.
 
Katie said:
And now I know I can do it, here's one of the Aston Hippodrome and the No 6 Tram, this one was never sent anywhere so have no idea of the date.

I think that this is from a painting by Davron, it may have the name Four Seasons on the back. ?

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I think that this is from a painting by Davron, it may have the name Four Seasons on the back. ?
 
Well,it's before 1953,there were no more trams after year,not painted from a photo.I shouldn't think, the tramlines are out of skew,the trams would be unable to pass.
 
Hi Big Fella

There is nothing about Four Seasons on the back of this postcard. It just says "No. 8 Series of Postcards Birmingham City Trams at Aston with Aston Hippodrome in the Background copyright G.S. Cooper and it was published by M.A. Arts with a further mention Trent Art St. Mary's Mews St. Mary's Place, Stafford. So perhaps the mention of M.A. Arts is the clue to whether it might be a painting. I have had it for years and never imagined it was anything but a photo. I see what you mean about the tram lines Ray but if I had painted this, I would certainly have put my name to it!!!!!!! Could it have been painted from a poster or as a poster?

Katie
 
Yeah, tramlines are challenging. Must be a reason for this. The Midland Institute photo is great. It shows the cabbies shelter in the road. Have seen this shelter before but at least I know what it is now. A new picture I think. That's James Watt standing in Ratcliffe Place. What a tradgedy that we have lost all of this...it did not have to go.
 
G.S. Cooper is a well known artist specialising in buses and trams. His paintings are available as prints, greetings cards or post cards. In his Aston painting the tram track is correct and known as interlaced track, allowing trams to run without single line working in narrower streets, relying on drivers to visually proceed with due caution so as not to meet on these sections of track. Some places had colour light signals controlling the section and some a preference system where cars travelling in one direction had preference over those coming in the opposite direction.
 
Following on from Mike's comment. I have looked at the track plans in the book Birmingham Corporation Trams and Trolleybuses by Mayou, Barker and Stanford and it does show the tracks interlaced at this point.
 
I remember visiting that J Lyons with my mum and I remember the view through the window too of the King and Queen. I thought the statues were black, well that's how they seemed in my memory. Viv.
 
Viv - the statues were black, but so was the Council House too, before it was cleaned. Soot has a lot to answer for.
 
Ah yes, I thought I hadn't imagined it. The statues were very, very black. This would be late 1950s. Just makes you realise how much smoke there must have been. I too loved it in Lyons's. Toasted teacake - it was always a toasted teacake - and a strawberry milkshake. Yum. Viv.
 
D'you know I think that's one of the reasons that Birmingham looks so much better than when I left it in the 80s, partly because so many of the older buildings have been cleaned up and look much brighter. You get to see more of the features of buildings too. Viv.
 
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