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Victoria Square

That's a very nice pic of Victoria Square. From the traffic I would guess it was taken very shortly before the one-way system New Street - Corporation Street - Bull Street - Colmore Row was introduced on 5 June 1933.
I'm intrigued to see what I remember as Joe Lyons Tearooms on the right, but which don't appear in the Kelly's until after WW2. It's just as it was in the 1950s, from what I remember.
Peter
 
I like these...I think it was at the time of the Queen's Coronation in '53.

ClHcelebcor53.jpg


ClHscelebcorQuE253.jpg
 
thanks for posting those photos Mazbeth. Very colourful. I remember seeing those decorations in Victoria Square. I bet that on of thoses buses is a 5a or No 7 bus at the bus stop in front of the Council House. I remember the bus stops with the sign on the top saying "Stage".
 
Jennyann, you've got me thinking. I believe you're right that only the 5s and 7s stopped in Victoria Square opposite the Council House, while the other buses that went up Broad Street (1, 3A, 6 and 9) stopped in Paradise Street.
The 'Stage' plates were put at the fare zone boundaries, but outside the city centre, a 'To City' or 'From City' plate would be put over every bus and tram stop sign. which it was claimed made it unnecessary for the destination indicators to be changed at termini. Only the outer terminus was normally shown.
Peter
 
Peter, You are right that only the 5a and 7 stopped at the Council House and that may have been until the l960's though I'm not sure. I worked in Queen's College Chambers in 1960 and used to have to cross the Square to get to Paradise Street. My brother used to
have to cross the square to catch the No. 6 when he was going to school at King Edwards Five Ways.

I remember the "To City" and "From City" signs but never really thought about what that meant. The "Stage" ones you had to pay attention to because the conductor
or conductress could call you up on going over the stages you had paid for. If there weren't too many passengers they would question you if you went one stop over the stage you had paid for or the flat capped Inspector in his long overcoat and clip board would board the bus and check everyone's tickets with similar results. I have to say I often went stop over the stage I had paid for but never got questioned.
 
I can't remember where this picture came from, I must have downloaded it from somewhere and forgot all about it.
Anyway, the caption reads Victoria Square c.1910

Terry
 
That's a smashing picture Terry I don't remember seeing that one before.
 
Great photo terry, I love zooming in on these photos and looking at the detail - is that a newspaper the man is reading while walking along. Also is the woman on her own or is there someone at her side - I can't quite tell if I can see another hat. When did it become acceptable for women to walk around on their own?
Polly
 
terryb18 said:
I can't remember where this picture came from, I must have downloaded it from somewhere and forgot all about it.
Anyway, the caption reads Victoria Square c.1910

Terry
Click to expand...

Ah! Those were the days....when one could walk around Birmingham without getting run over...in a pedestrian area!!
 
Picture of Victoria square in 1971 , after the demolition of Galloways corner, but before anything else had been done
Mike

victoria_square_1971_after_demol__Galloways_cornerA.jpg
 
When I was at Birmingham Lives last Sunday, I bought a copy of "All About Victoria Square" from the Victorian Society. It is an excellent booklet, with lots of beautiful old photos. The booklet (published in 1989) has been out of print for sometime, but apparently they found a box full recently. Well worth checking to see if they have any left!
 
View attachment 63910
This building was known in the eighteenth century as 'Allins Cabinet of Curiosities', an intriguing name for a general clothing store. In the nineteenth century it became 'Bryan's Pastry Shop' and was much patronised by Town Hall audiences. The property was demolished when the Council House built. The photo is from 1867.
 
View attachment 63915 I have been inside the Council House on several occasions, lunch with the Lord Mayor was one of them and each time I was amazed at the splendour inside this beautiful building.
 
Hello Jennyann, that room seems vaguely familiar with the one I sat in when invited for lunch with the Mayor. I was invited because a business man from Norway told his government about me after I had carried him in my Hackney Carriage in Birmingham. I first picked him up at the airport and he booked me for the four days he was here attending a conference at the NEC. When he left for home he said he would be back and he would contact me. He came back a few weeks later with his wife and two friends and they asked me to show them around Warwick Castle. As you may know, you can book for a tour of the castle so I booked one for the 5 of us but first I took them to Kenilworth and showed them the ruins there. Over the next few days, being a registered guide for Birmingham, I showed them most things that were of interest in the city then they left for home again. In Norway, he contacted his government about my enthusiasm for life and the City, then nowegian government official contacted the council here and told them about me. The second time I was in there was to collect a document thanking me for my charity work.
 
View attachment 64057
The Baden- Powell appeal for money for the women and children of Mafeking, 1900. The stand outside the Council House is manned by King Edwards Grammar School pupils.
 
Worked for Bill Bloye the sculptor on the bronze casting of queen Vic in the earlt 50s also the inscription, Seems like there was a Kunzles tea room in one of the buildings around the square, John Crump
 
oldbrit said:
Worked for Bill Bloye the sculptor on the bronze casting of queen Vic in the earlt 50s also the inscription, Seems like there was a Kunzles tea room in one of the buildings around the square, John Crump
Click to expand...

Here's a photo of the statue for you


Queen Victoria statue in Victoria Square, Birmingham by ell brown, on Flickr

This is what Pevsner Architectural Guides has to say on it:

The square gained its name when Thomas Brock's statue of Queen Victoria was unveiled in 1901. A copy - at the insistence of the patron, W.H. Barber, a Birmingham solicitor - of Brock's statue at the Shire Hall, Worcester. Originally white marble, re-cast in bronze in 1951 by William Bloye.
Click to expand...
 
Found this article about the missing sceptre Queen Victoria statue in Birmingham City Centre returned to former glory after 20 years

BIRMINGHAM’S famous statue of Queen Victoria will be returned to its former glory today when her missing sceptre is returned.


The restoration of the bronze tribute, created in marble by sculptor Thomas Brock following the Queen’s death in 1901, follows detective work by the Victorian Society.


Victoria’s sceptre, cradled in her right hand, has been missing its top, known as a capital, since the early 1990s.


The missing capital was amended to incorporate the Star of India in 1908. The Victorian Society unearthed photographs of the original and, working with the city council, commissioned Eura Conservation to recreate it.


Society regional chairman Stephen Hartland said: “Many of our campaigns are large but we are also able to call on our knowledge and expertise in smaller matters.”


Birmingham City Council Cabinet Member for Leisure, Sport and Culture, Coun Martin Mullaney, said: “This took a bit of detective work but now the statue can be restored to its former glory.”
The statue was recast in bronze by William Boyle in 1958.
Click to expand...

Think they got the recasting year wrong - not 1958, but 1951.
 
I also carved the coat of arms above the entrance to a building on Bennetts Hill, John Crump
 
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