• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

City Centre Photographs

When walking around the city centre, I am struck by how attractive the Victorian buildings are, and how bland and boring are the new ones. It is easy to pass through Birmingham without looking up at the fine details of the Victorian buildings. The city planners then must have had a real pride in the city and were concerned for the way it looked, rather than just erecting a building as quickly as possible with the aim of making money from it. Many of the beautiful buildings were destroyed in the '60s, only for those replacements to have since disappeared themselves. Perhaps it would have been better to have left the old buildings where they were.
 
Perhaps it would have been better to have left the old buildings where they were. To true Beverleigh Having visited Leminghton they have kept the old frontages & built moden shopping behind,now thats PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE not just get of rid of our Cities past for a quick buck !
So glad you guys have these old photos, so our young one can see what our City looked like.
 
As someone who was born and bred in Birmingham and lived there til 1957, in
my humble opinion the City Planners did far more damage than the Luftwaffe
ever did. Bernard
 
img346.jpg
The Chamberlain Memorial Fountain is almost complete in this photo. The large building in the background was founded by Sir Josiah Mason, hence the name Mason's College.
 
img351.jpg
1930, The Bull Ring is easily recogniseable at center top. If you can imagine walking up the hill with St. Martins on your left, you will then find it easy to locate other places on the photo.
 
Actually It took me a few minutes to recognise that Stitch. Until I realised that the Market Hall still had it's roof.
 
Actually It took me a few minutes to recognise that Stitch. Until I realised that the Market Hall still had it's roof. Actually you can also see the long roofs of the City and Midland Arcades meeting at Union Passage. A little jem that and definately worth saving. You can also see the Worcester Street ends of Phillips and Bell.
 
I agree Rupert, another thing that struck me was the actual length of the Market Hall. I did not remember it as that long but it was a long time ago.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Great view Stitcher. I notice there's a substantial building on High Street. It has columns in front and is painted white (top left of photo). Does anyone know what that was? It might be obvious but I just can't work that one out. Viv.
 
You're spot on Mike! Just looked it up, Stitcher posted a photo on the co-op high street bham thread. You can just about see the columns in the photo. All the years I've walked around there and been inside, I've never noticed the columns. Just shows you how little you see above street level. Thanks. Viv.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1329334968.525190.jpg
 
img364.jpg
This was the scene on High Street in April 1941 after a night of bombing. The view is looking towards the Bull Ring.
 
Stitcher, I can remember seeing that scene and others similar to it. I was 11 YO in 1941 and we would regularly catch the bus from Shirley were we lived into the Bullring and walk across town to Martineau St to catch the 3X tram to Aston to see if Nan was ok and I can remember seeing various bombed buildings still smoking and the firemen 'damping down'. Aston suffered a lot of bombing and we had asked Nan to come and stay with us in Shirley but she wouldn,t budge saying 'If my time is up then my time is up'. Funnily enough it was us who got bombed in November 1940,we had to leave the house for 3 weeks while it was repaired, we spent the 3 weeks in a romany caravan on a farm in Earlswood. My 2 sisters and I thought it was a great adventure!! Eric
 
I saw similar scenes as a small child when I was taken to 'town' on days after the bombing - I don't think we went just to look at the bomb damage.
There are some interesting Birmingham bomb damage photos in the link which is in the Temple Row post #223 Here
oldmohawk
 
Vivienne14 said:
Must have waited at that bus stop countless times, in rain snow, hail and sunshine. You could rely on Grey's canopy to give welcome shelter. The night service buses ran from there too. In the 70s you could pick up your next days Sunday Mercury from the newspaper man a bit further up towards Temple Row. And you could grab a burger from the mobile canteen parked on the empty Snow Hill Station site. All you needed in one place to set you up for the journey home on the late night bus. Viv.
Click to expand...

I too often bought the Mercury from that spot,on my way home of a saturday,good old days.
 
You are probbly all older than I am but I too remember seeing bombed areas when in town with my mother.
 
I'm fortunate enough to not have been born when the bombing brought havoc on the city but my immediate reaction to Stitcher's last photo was the 'Bovril' sign left standing amidst all that destruction ( but a cup of Bovril could set you to rights and keep you soldiering on !). That view of the destruction all around is still very upsetting. Viv.
 
New Street Theatre Royal 1909.jpgI think this has been on before but was probably hacked. Its the Theatre Royal in New Street, Birmingham. circa 1910
 
img416.jpg
The ballet is on at the Birmingham Hippodrome in 1951 and this is just a small section of the queue of people waiting for tickets.
 
img451.jpg
There is quite a bit of text with this one and I will ask a moderator if it is alright to copy it.
 
img452.jpg
The original Rackhams, junction of Temple Street and Bull Street. 1958
 
img453.jpg
I am sure I have previously posted a picture of The Cobden Hotel but I don't think that one had the scaffold up ready for demolition. 1957.
 
Stitcher said:
View attachment 74142
I am sure I have previously posted a picture of The Cobden Hotel but I don't think that one had the scaffold up ready for demolition. 1957.
Click to expand...

Here is the Cobden without scaffold. Date quoted is 1955.

image.php
 
Yeah...thats what I remember. I could easily have been caught in that shot on my way to school except it looks like a rainy sunday morning...not even a bookies runner around thinking about something. As someone else said you never look up when passing by; so that the fine roof line and chimneys and clock were not noticed.
 
A bit of background:

The Cobden Hotel was named after Richard Cobden, a colleague of John Bright and a strong supporter of the temperance movement. Bright officially opened the building in 1883. It was unlicensed to sell alcohol as it was owned and run by supporters of the temperance movement. The owners, Birmingham Coffee House Company founded in 1877, opened the Coffee House in the first place, to offer an alternative to the pub for working people. The hotel continued here until around 1959, when the company purchased a property on the Hagley Road, vacating the Corporation Street site in the 1960s for the Rackhams department store development (now House of Fraser). Through the 20th century it became part of the Arden and Cobden Group (3 hotels: Arden, Cobden and Norfolk).

Viv.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top