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Broad Street

  • Thread starter Thread starter rianne1974
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Vivienne14 said:
Yes Paul - the white arched building to the right looks to me like the Colonnade in the Hall of Memory Gardens which was moved to St Thomas’s in Bath Row (Peace Garden). But the buildings behind it must all have been demolished. Viv.
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Wasn't the building behind Bingley Hall?
 
devonjim said:
Wasn't the building behind Bingley Hall?
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I thought it was but I am not sure whether Bingley Hll was this block or the next. When I was at the College of Commerce, which later became the Registry Office, I remember a Car Dealership called Lyles Garage which I think was next to the Colonade.
 
devonjim said:
Seems that Bingley Hall was further down King Alfred's Place up to the corner of Cambridge Street. ie not on the corner of Broad Street.
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There was an entrance to a small hall to Bingley Hall which was on Broad Street which was previously the Prince of Wales Theatre which was bombed during the war. I remember the Dancing Fountains were often displayed in this hall.
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So if I’ve got this right from Mikes map the red dot is Baskerville Place just behind the Colonnade and the blue dot is the building on the corner of Broad Street and Baskerville Place, just below the car park on the map. Viv.

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The posts by Sticher below show Bush House in Broad Street. They state that Bush House opened on the 27 March 1958 and was demolished in 1990.

Actually in 1955 March the contract was approved for completion of Bush House which had remained a steel skeleton for the 15 years. It was begun before war by a private company, and later acquired by the Corporation. The picture is an illustration from April 1939 of what Bush house would have looked like. Seems better than the 1958 design. Has the illustrator used American cars in the picture ?

Broad Street

Great photo Stitcher. Look at those tyres ! Viv.
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk

Broad Street

Great photo Stitcher. Look at those tyres ! Viv.
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk

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Stitcher said:
View attachment 76711
This dinosaur, made locally was being was being transported to the the Centenary celebrations and was passing The Cambridge Inn in Cambridge Street at chucking out time.

This was not the original post but it fills a gap because I can not find the picture that was on this post.
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Here it is by the Town Hall from “Aspects of Birmingham : discovering local history.”

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DavidGrain said:
I remember the names of the tower blocks years ago as quoted by Lloyd so I don't think these are name changes.

Yes the Crowne Plaza used to be the Holiday Inn. Crowne Plaza is a more upmarket brand owned by the same group which owns Holiday Inn. I can tell you a story which amuses me. Back in 1989 I was involved with organising an international conference in Birmingham for which we used the Holiday Inn. The Americans refused to book into a Holiday Inn so they stayed at the Albany Hotel and spent a fortune in taxi fares between the two hotels. I think my greatest achievement at that conference was to pursuade a group from Miami that it was safe to walk between the two hotels. In visiting both hotels they realised that the facilities at the Holiday Inn were far superior to those at the Albany. The joke is that the Holiday Inn has been renamed Crowne Plaza and the Albany is now the Holiday Inn.
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Yes I agree, made a fortune as cab driver taking businessmen between hotels...good tippers on expenses .... and now there is a Holiday Inn "Express" in Holliday Street....and original hotel had night club (residents bar} on ground floor called Night & Day...24 hour bar for residents and taxi drivers like me...lol residents bar then moved upstairs...never the same.
 
Late 60’s/Early 70’s ?
 

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I have a partial memory of going on a school trip to see a puppet theatre production in a building on Broad St. 1957 or thereabout? Lefthand side going towards Five Ways. Probably a meeting hall with a stage.
 
Was this ever built ? It says building operations had begun in 1939. But the 1950s Bush House mentioned earlier on this thread looks different (posts#696 and #700). So was the 1930s plan shelved and/or scrapped (due to WW2 perhaps ?). Viv.

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Source:British Newspaper Archive
 
I remember Bush House as a child as just the steel framework and my mother telling me that it had begun before the war. As far as I am aware the later Bush House was built in 1950s using the same framework but with a rounded corner on the junction of Cumberland Street and Broad Street rather than the flat corner shown in the newspaper article.
 
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