BrummieGeoff
Sparkhill Lad
There's an interesting old Iron Room article from 2015 titled "Urban Renewal - Vision and Reality: The Birmingham Civic Centre Scheme 1926-1965".
Link below:
theironroom.wordpress.com
In 1926 Birmingham Council launched a competition calling for design proposals for a new Civic Centre to be constructed on Broad Street, adjacent to the new Hall of Memory. Proposals were submitted by architects and planners, but were rejected as being too ambitious for an English provincial city. In the end, only Baskerville House and the Boulton & Watt Memorial were actually built as a result of the initiative.
In 1941 William Haywood based his well known Civic Centre model on these proposals.
It's interesting that the Colonnade associated with the Hall of Memory doesn't feature in these plans .... even though it was built at the same time as the Hall of Memory. Presumably the planners didn't feel it fitted in with their plans for a grand square. So the Colonnade could have been moved even earlier than 1990, when it was relocated to the St Thomas Peace Garden in Bath Row.
1941 Model (Photo Credit: Andy Bryan)
One of the proposal drawings
Link below:
Urban Renewal – Vision and Reality: The Birmingham Civic Centre Scheme 1926-1965
The following drawings form part of a large deposit of rolled plans of public buildings and urban planning schemes. They were transferred to our archives from the Birmingham City Council Urban Desi…
theironroom.wordpress.com
In 1926 Birmingham Council launched a competition calling for design proposals for a new Civic Centre to be constructed on Broad Street, adjacent to the new Hall of Memory. Proposals were submitted by architects and planners, but were rejected as being too ambitious for an English provincial city. In the end, only Baskerville House and the Boulton & Watt Memorial were actually built as a result of the initiative.
In 1941 William Haywood based his well known Civic Centre model on these proposals.
It's interesting that the Colonnade associated with the Hall of Memory doesn't feature in these plans .... even though it was built at the same time as the Hall of Memory. Presumably the planners didn't feel it fitted in with their plans for a grand square. So the Colonnade could have been moved even earlier than 1990, when it was relocated to the St Thomas Peace Garden in Bath Row.
1941 Model (Photo Credit: Andy Bryan)
One of the proposal drawings
