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Birmingham Town Hall
- Thread starter Di.Poppitt
- Start date
ellbrown
ell brown on Flickr
Town Hall image on the British Library's Flickr
Image taken from page 549 of '[An history of Birmingham ... With a new introduction by Christopher R. Erington.]' by The British Library, on Flickr
Image taken from page 549 of '[An history of Birmingham ... With a new introduction by Christopher R. Erington.]' by The British Library, on Flickr
Definitely don't remember any windows along those arches at street level. Quite ornate too. I know they're now glazed again, but when I left Brum in the 1980s I'm sure they were open. Were they removed then between 1940's - 1960s? Viv.
paul stacey
master brummie
In don't remember them glazed Viv, always open I am sure and you could walk under the portico on a pavement.
Thanks Paul and Mike. So I'm not going do lally after all. Hope they survived after all that sandbag effort. A lot of sandbags there. But I assume they eventually removed the windows and put them into storage, maybe even during the War. Can't imagine they'd scrap all those. Although there again .... Viv.
Oh is the modern glass only on the Paradise Street side then Ell? Viv.
Your night photo of the building does it great justice Ell. Lovely photo. Thanks.
So it's only the Paradise St end and the Central Library end that have had adaptations. After passing by that building every day I never noticed the windows on Victoria Square and Fletcher's Walk sides, probably because they were covered in so much filth at that time. I could even see the Fletcher's Walk side from the building I worked in, and have no recollection of windows. But I suppose the features above are very dominant and you tend to look less at
the street level features. (And I also took very little notice of buildings in those days too!)
I think the glass enclosing the Paradise St end makes good sense after nearly 200 years of it being an open walkway. I expect it provided a useful shelter for passengers at one time as there used to be a cab stand on the Fletcher's Walk side in the 1800s and I think buses stopped there in later years.
It looks like there were originally plans to have some sort of shutters and doors on the Paradise Street side. But perhaps this was never carried through.
Viv.
So it's only the Paradise St end and the Central Library end that have had adaptations. After passing by that building every day I never noticed the windows on Victoria Square and Fletcher's Walk sides, probably because they were covered in so much filth at that time. I could even see the Fletcher's Walk side from the building I worked in, and have no recollection of windows. But I suppose the features above are very dominant and you tend to look less at
the street level features. (And I also took very little notice of buildings in those days too!)
I think the glass enclosing the Paradise St end makes good sense after nearly 200 years of it being an open walkway. I expect it provided a useful shelter for passengers at one time as there used to be a cab stand on the Fletcher's Walk side in the 1800s and I think buses stopped there in later years.
It looks like there were originally plans to have some sort of shutters and doors on the Paradise Street side. But perhaps this was never carried through.
Viv.
ellbrown
ell brown on Flickr
It got fully restored by 2007! (was under scaffolding for a few years as I recall). Looks amazing now!
There are some bus stops on the Paradise Circus Queensway side of the Town Hall now.
And that area will change again when Paradise Circus gets redeveloped (all concrete buildings to be demolished and replaced).
There are some bus stops on the Paradise Circus Queensway side of the Town Hall now.
And that area will change again when Paradise Circus gets redeveloped (all concrete buildings to be demolished and replaced).
The T.H. is not aesthetically attractive to me. There is more to a building than pillars and a peaked roof and fancy lighting. It could be improved, to my eyes anyway, if it had some kind of frontal entrance. As it is, it stands on an 'air raid shelter like' raised plinth with any entrance hard to find for the un-initiated. That being said, it's been there for going on 200 years now and would be missed. Missed mostly as a monument with an organ in it I believe since for the time that I knew it, it was empty and held the occasional concert. No offices in it as far as I knew...no Lord Mayor housed there. The city business was carried on in the Council House I suppose and perhaps that was the place where the Lord Mayor was housed. Standing alone now the T.H. makes more of a statement but one wonders how much better it would have been to have maintained Mason College and expanded the real Central Library and Midland Institute into the T.H. space with a sympathetic frontage and wings. We got an inverted pyramid and would be Parthenon vying for monument status. Ah well, it might have been a cold glass tower I suppose...with provisions to avoid bird kill.
Like to see the photo Alan if you can post it. Viv.
Radiorails
master brummie
Personally I think Birmingham Town Hall to be one of the finest buildings in the United Kingdom.
There are similar structures in many European countries which all take their respective styles from ancient Southern Europe. Although the building did, it seems, house the Council and administrative functions in its first forty plus years - in addition serving as a meeting and entertainment centre - the Council and City administrations have been elsewhere (The Council House) since the 1870's. Therefore the building should not be confused with a City Hall, Hotel de Ville, Stadt Halle or other similar civic building, it has progressed beyond that. It serves as a great focal point for the City, hosting many events that smaller cities and towns can only envy.
My personal memories of the place were the wonderful concerts given by the CBSO. It was their home for over sixty years, my visits were only for four of them when aged 12 -16.
Later this year it will celebrate a 180 year history, a that is older than many cities in some parts of the world! :friendly_wink:
There are similar structures in many European countries which all take their respective styles from ancient Southern Europe. Although the building did, it seems, house the Council and administrative functions in its first forty plus years - in addition serving as a meeting and entertainment centre - the Council and City administrations have been elsewhere (The Council House) since the 1870's. Therefore the building should not be confused with a City Hall, Hotel de Ville, Stadt Halle or other similar civic building, it has progressed beyond that. It serves as a great focal point for the City, hosting many events that smaller cities and towns can only envy.
My personal memories of the place were the wonderful concerts given by the CBSO. It was their home for over sixty years, my visits were only for four of them when aged 12 -16.
Later this year it will celebrate a 180 year history, a that is older than many cities in some parts of the world! :friendly_wink:
Why not give it a proper entrance and forecourt? It can still be in the style that you favour. I seem to remember that it was a bit cramped inside. Probably big enough in it's day. I also seem to remember from here that it was rebuilt once because of a structural failure. Lewiss's makes a better focal point I think. Probably because it had an everyday purpose as well as being a fine structure for it's time...including today.
Hi Alan. They were quick off the mark getting those sandbags filled. The photo's dated Sept 1939, so they certainly got a move on preparing those (hundreds or thousands?) of sandbags. Doubt the Council would have had a ready supply stashed somewhere so I presume the bags were mostly made up on site. Can understand why they'd want to preserve it as your other photo tells us it was renovated in 1935 - so protecting their investment. Can't remember if I've ever seem photos with the upper level windows were protected too. But I expect they too were covered up, maybe with boards. Viv.
B
BernardR
Guest
I think it is a Hansom Building.
Old Boy
master brummie
Hi All,
50 years ago this week the town hall was the scene of a meeting which saw the formation of The National Viewers and Listeners Association. Mary Whitehouse was its main spokesperson and the aim was to put a stop to what they considered to be the violence and sex etc that was being broadcast. They argued that unless something was done about it the matters would only get worse. Mrs Whitehouse is now dead and I do not know if the Association still exists. But was Mary Whitehouse right? Are things worse than they were 50 years ago? Certainly it seems that most comedians cannot stand before an audience without uttering words that a few years ago would not have been tolerated.
Old Boy
50 years ago this week the town hall was the scene of a meeting which saw the formation of The National Viewers and Listeners Association. Mary Whitehouse was its main spokesperson and the aim was to put a stop to what they considered to be the violence and sex etc that was being broadcast. They argued that unless something was done about it the matters would only get worse. Mrs Whitehouse is now dead and I do not know if the Association still exists. But was Mary Whitehouse right? Are things worse than they were 50 years ago? Certainly it seems that most comedians cannot stand before an audience without uttering words that a few years ago would not have been tolerated.
Old Boy
B
BernardR
Guest
And now back to the Town Hall.