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Stephenson Street

Ive not bin around much in last few Months , uploading & replying to the threads are so different even no smilings .......... whats bin goin on ........ ragga
 
ragga said:
Ive not bin around much in last few Months , uploading & replying to the threads are so different even no smilings .......... whats bin goin on ........ ragga
Click to expand...

Hello ragga nice to see you back

There is smiley's but they are out tonight they won't even come out for me
 
Ragga

It was the Exchange Buildings, don't be sad a little change has to come into everyones life. you will soon get used to it.

Phil

03/12/11. I'm not sure if this is the original photo I posted, but it is the same location.

CityStephensonPlace3.jpg
 
Ragga
In answer to your question as to what was there, looking at the 1956 directory the main part of the buildings in that block was the Exchange Buildings, which were offices. Fronting those going down Stephenson place were in order:
3 Prosser F. H. (Retail) Ltd. chemists
4 Metcalf (A.) & Freeman (A. D.), fruitrs​
5 Finlay&Co.Ltd.tobccnsts
6 Birmingham Exchange Postal & Telegraph Office
9 Exchange Restaurant (Mitchells & Butlers Ltd proprs
Then there was the station, queens hotel and ancilliary buildings, which in the photograph still seem to be standing
Mike​
 
Thank you Alf , also to Mikejee & Phil too ... I see now why they named a pub called the Exchange in the corner of the 2nd photo
i use to go in there when i worked on the station 1973-75 Tell me something on the 1st photo where the 3 cars are is that a pub ??
I cant recall one there , i do remember the Iron Horse though which was further back along Stephenson Street.
ragga ....
 
If one checks out the DJNorton site, and refer to the Leonard Stace photographs of the early 1960's, the Stephenson Street file easily identifies the Exchange from a 100 yard distance.
 
well i didnt know that...must say they looked good solid buildings....great shame that they were demolished..

lyn
 
Ragga
The three cars are by the back entrance of the Midland Bank (now Waterstones)/ On directories it is described as "foriegn branch"
mike
 
Thank you Mikejee .......... looking @ the photo it just seems like a pub to me with its doors closed ................ ragga
 
i agree Ragga, but that's what the 1956 Kellys says. It could have changed before the picture of course
 
poiu.jpeg
Looking from New Street down Stephenson Street with the Queens Hotel at the bottom. The Queens was built in or about 1854, this photo was taken in 1964 and the building was closed ready for demolition in 1966.
 
Good news indeed Stitcher. Hopefully, this new hotel will be stiff competition for the one across the street.
 
Not seen this view before. It's from a 1918 postcard, Queens and North Western Hotel. According to the pc it was the only railway hotel in Birmingham. I like the GREAT expanse of road fronting the hotel. I suppose this would now be Stephenson Street. Looks almost continental. Now you'd feel you HAD arrived somewhere when you pulled up outside this place. Viv.
 
Viv - I remember this, but I don't remember it looking quite so large and quite so grand, however, I was born long after 1918. You got to it, and the entrance to the station, along the bit of road that is Stephenson Street, then it turned a corner (still same street name I think). I used to go to Cheltenham often by rail, from New Street, but I think by the time I was travelling on my own, the hotel may have been closed. It's a pity really that it's gone.
 
Stephenson Street as it is now, being prepared for the Midland Metro





The only hotel down here was the Midland Hotel (now Burlington Hotel).
 
I just put together a panoramic of my existing 2011 photos of the Midland Hotel



Where I was standing at the time, it wasn't possible to get the hotel all in one shot.
 
The Queens Hotel was what is now the building(s) on the left hand side of this photo of Stephenson Street. I don't remember anything but a sign saying 'Queen's Hotel', nothing about North Western Hotel at all. The last time I remember using the station was in June 1963, I think it was demolished the following year, when the Bull Ring was built.
 
Shortie the Queens view must have been based on a much, much earlier view as the Midland Hotel in Ell's photos was built in 1875. The postcard is 1918, so they either chose to ignore the buildings opposite Queens Hotel/ St Station, or it was artistic licence. All the same it's a good promotional picture. And as you say Shortie, probably made to look much bigger, grander and enticing than the actual building, which by 1918 would have been very dark and grimy and enclosed by the buildings on the opposite side of Stephenson Street. Still, a very sad loss. But be interesting to see if the modern adaptations to the station are an improvement on the 1970/80s station I used a lot. It really was a souless place. Viv.
 
A few quotes from Wikipedia Birmingham New Street Station

LNWR station

The station was formally opened on 1 June 1854, although it had already been in use for two years. The station was constructed by Messrs. Fox, Henderson & Co. and designed by Edward Alfred Cowper of that firm. When completed, it had the largest single-span iron and glass roof in the world, spanning a width of 212 feet (65 m) and being 840 feet (256 m) long. It held this title for 14 years until St Pancras station opened in 1868. The main entrance building on Stephenson Street incorporated Queen's Hotel, designed by J. W. Livock, which was opened on the same day
Click to expand...

1960s rebuild

The station was rebuilt in the 1960s as part of the West Coast Main Line modernisation programme. In 1964, demolition of the original New Street station and Queen's Hotel began and was not completed until 1966. The new New Street station was finished in 1967. The 1960s station is currently (as of 2013) being redeveloped.
Click to expand...


The main entrance building to the old station on Stephenson Street, incorporating Queen's Hotel, c1910
Click to expand...
 
I agree Shortie there are potentially a lot of flaws with this postcard. It claims to be the ONLY railway hotel in Birmingham. But what about the Great Western in front of Snow Hill? Makes me think more and more it's a promotional card involving a lot of artistic licence! Viv.
 
It wasn't. Would you class the Grand Hotel on Colmore Row as a "railway hotel"?

I recently noticed that the HSBC tower above HSBC on New Street is going to be converted into a Premier Inn. A budget hotel, compared to the Burlington Hotel nearby.
 
Viv - I am sure there was artistic license used, and possibly the reason the other buildings were not featured is that the postcard was only to publicise the Queens, not anything else, and may even have been drawn from an artists impression during the planning stage. The entrance to the station was actually incorporated into the building. Demolition was the worst thing they could have done. Not only was it soulless (and still is) it was dark and dreary, whereas the old station had a glass roof. I was interested in the description of it being the only station hotel, which to me possibly points to the fact that entrance to the station was in the hotel, like at St Pancras. The Gt Western Hotel only fronted Snow Hill. Had it been left alone, it might even have been modernised and turned into a grand, fabulous place. We can dream..........
 
Ellbrown - No, The Grand Hotel is not a station hotel, the station was a few yards down the road, not behind or above it. The Grand was built circa 1880 - owned by the same person, Isaac Horton, who started his business life as a pig breeder, then butcher, then property magnate. Hortons' Estate still exist. When I was still at work, Hortons' was our client and I even worked along side Peter Horton. That's how I knew about the beginnings of the Grand
.
 
The Pallasades was built on the site of the hotel. Along with Ladywood House.

Here's a view of the redevelopment of the station, with the shiny reflective surface.

I think the hotel must have been in this location.



And a view from the brand new Stephenson Street entrance, looking left down Stephenson Street.



Artists impression Metro New Street photo copyright Centro - Network West Midlands
 
Hotels will be part of Snow Hill's future (not on the station site). As the JFK Tower / Snow Hill Plaza is being converted into a Holiday Inn Express.
And the Grand is being restored.

Yes I know that Horton's Estate still exists. I found several buildings in that area that they own.
 
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