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Birmingham Town Hall

John the wash and brush up took about a year and many millions of pounds in side and out I myself was there for many months installing the electrics for the Boiler House and the Air conditioning all round the building. It must be 3-4 years ago how time flies by.Dek
 
I caught a glimpse of the inside on a TV programme recently, forget which programme. But it looked so good, nothing like I remember. Saw many bands there in the 70s and it was a bit the worse for wear at that time. Nice to hear it's been given some TLC. Another building Brum should be proud of. Viv.
 
It's also lovely and restored inside I went to a concert there last year. I loved it so much more intimate and friendly and beautiful than places like the NIA or the NEC.
 
Birmingham Town Hall’s design was chosen from 67 submitted designs and was to be built on one of two sites, either Bennett’s Hill or Paradise St. Though the more expensive site Paradise St was chosen.

The winners of the design competition were Joseph Hanson (designer of the Hansom Cab) & Edward Welch. They estimated construction costs at £8.000. Work started in 1832 with a completion date given for 1833.

Because of a Tendering too low for the contract Hansom went bankrupt and guarantors had to be found for the required funds before the building could be completed. The building eventually opened on October 7th 1834 even though it was still unfinished.

Architect Charles Edge was commissioned in 1835 to rectify weaknesses to the original design and for two extensions to the Hall in 1837 and 1850.
One notable feature of the Town Hall is the 6000 pipe organ that Hill’s of London were contracted to build on site at a cost of £6000.

Though the Hall was built originally to host public meetings and The Birmingham Triennial Music Festival, over the years it has been used for many diverse purposes such as as organ recitals, rock, pop and classical concerts and political meetings. It is even used today for the graduation ceremonies for Aston University.

In 1996 the Hall closed for a £35 million renovation to bring it back to something like it’s original glory. Though it opened for some concerts in 2007 it was officially opened by HRH The Prince Of Wales & The Duchess of Cornwall on the 22nd of April 2008.

The photos attached to this are

(1) a drawing of the Town Hall in 1860
town hall c 1860.jpg

(2) a photo of what I can only assume is the extension being added in 1850 as the earlier builds would have been too early to be photographed.

(3) a photo of the Town Hall c 1950

City%20Victoria%20Square%20Town%20Hall 1950s.jpg
(4) a photo of the interior before the renovations

(5) a photo of the interior after the renovations.

Phil

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Very interesting, Phil. I've never seen pic #2 before, but you're implying that either the massive columns were not in the original design or else they were taken down when the 'extension' was built and re-erected again in pic #2. Do you know if the original chosen design still exists in the Archives at all?

Maurice :cool:
 
Sospiri

Good question, only problem is I don't know the answer. It's a photo I came across that is obviously the town hall, it can't be of the original build in the 1830's, but is just possibly that of the extension being built in 1850 when photography was just coming into vogue.

I will have a little search about and see if I can find just what the two later extensions consisted of.

Phil
 
Isn't it good to see a building restored in this way ? The last time I saw the interior it was very tired and shabby. So good to see photo # 5 with it beautifully restored. A Birmingham success story. Viv.
 
I worked at the Town Hall during the restoration a little bit of useless information, It took 450 pages of gold leaf to restore the rose in the centre of the ceiling just a little bit of the 35 million:rolleyes::rolleyes::D Dek
 
My photos of the completely restored Town Hall

From Chamberlain Square


Birmingham Town Hall and Chamberlain Memorial by ell brown, on Flickr

From Paradise Street


Birmingham Town Hall from Paradise Street by ell brown, on Flickr

From Victoria Square


Statue of Queen Victoria, Victoria Square - new Sceptre by ell brown, on Flickr

Foundation stone


Birmingham Town Hall - Joseph Hansom - John Welch - Architects - MDCCCXXXIV by ell brown, on Flickr

New sign


Welcome to Town Hall - sign by ell brown, on Flickr
 
Vivienne

The Statue of Sir Robert Peel was the work of a local Birmingham man Peter Hollins the first bronze statue to be cast in one piece. It was cast at Elkington & Masons Newhall St.

The statue was first sited in Congreve but was later moved to a better position in Victoria Square in 1873. In 1926 it was involved in a traffic incident involving a lorry and a gas lamp. It was repaired and the decision was made to move it to Calthorpe Park. In 1963 it was moved to Bristol Rd to stand outside the police training college.

Phil
 
great idea phil..when i have time i will try and contribute to this section....:)

lyn
 
I hope that one day that they restore both the statue and plinth to somewhere in the City Centre, rather than leaving them where they are now.

The empty plinth in Calthorpe Park makes no sense now - could do with restoring, remove the graffiti (PEEL reads like PEII).
 
Phil said:
I will have a little search about and see if I can find just what the two later extensions consisted of.

Phil
Click to expand...


I'm having a little difficulty in finding any information on the the 1837 & 1850 extensions to the Town Hall, but I have sent for a new book that may be of some help with this and some other questions so you'll have to bear with me for a while.

Phil
 
I have a small book (about 24 pages) from a charity shop, "The Birmingham Town Hall 1834-1934" and was published "by directions of the general purposes committee in connection with the Town Hall Centenary celebrations". Apparently the original building had thirteen columns and two more were added.

A newspaper cutting has been glued in which states "the solution to the mystery of the extra side pillars is to be found in the volume of architechtural plans and drawings by Charles Edge, of Birmingham - a voloume which is the feature of the present Library Exhibition." There is no date on this cutting, or on any of the others. They are quite fragile, and some are unreadable.

"In 1848 Edge devised a mortice-like addition which enclosed the architectural abutment at the rear of the Hall" This meant the extra pillars were needed, and also at the rear, to bring it "into harmony with the frontage in Paradise St."
The cost of completion was £8,520.

I hope this helps, my typing isn't very good with arthritic fingers!!

rosie.
 
Thanks jennyann. Interesting to note that the foundation stone says "Joseph Hansom" and "John Welch", but the other architect was Edward Welch. Is John / Edward the same person?
 
Thanks for the info Phil on Peel. At least I suppose his statue now stands in an appropriate place. Although it does seem odd to leave the empty plinth in the park! Viv.
 
I can't say why John Welch is named on the foundation stone with Hansom instead of Edward Welch as my information says it was Edward who assisted Hansom with the design of the building. I can tell you that along with W.P.Lloyd and Edward Tench that John Welch was one of the three men who guaranteed the funds to finish the building of the Town Hall when Hansom went bankrupt.

Phil
 
Just reading through Pevsner's architectural guide for Birmingham I see that he confirms that it was a partnership of Hansom & Edward Welch responsible for the design of the Town Hall. He also says that the original site was not big enough to accommodate their design of 14 bays by 7 bays so it was reduced to 12 bays by 7. I also note that in 1850 Charles Edge added these 2 extra bays when a new street was opened up on the north and west sides of the hall. So this may be the work being carried out in photo No 2.

Phil
 
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