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City Centre Photographs
- Thread starter bobsummers
- Start date
Dennis Williams
Gone but not forgotten
Not sure if it IS a pub now...I have it labelled as the White Swan, which was in Edmund St but I think on the other side of the road...there doesn't seem to be a nemed pub or hotel on the maps of the day....false alarm? Sorry. Kelly's may confirm...?
The White Swan, which became a Berni Inn in the 70's, has sadly gone although the building still exists as part of 'Innovation House', an office complex. Of course further down Edmund Street is the 'Old Contemptibles' named after the British Expeditionary Force from the 1st World War when the Keiser called them "That comptemptible little army"
Re: City Centre Photo Album
I am also having trouble with the thumbnails i click on but nothing happens
Dennis Williams
Gone but not forgotten
Phil posted this great shot in another place...never seen it before...almost didn't recognise it...can you name the corner?...not you Phil!
Dennis Williams
Gone but not forgotten
Close, but no banana Shortie...
Dennis Williams
Gone but not forgotten
Yep Richie, spot on. I think the porch is from the adjoining Hotel? Nice image of Christ Church at the top of New Street...?
So this must have been the area that was bombed in WW2 and replaced with the BigTop development. Or were these buildings replaced pre-WW2? Viv.
Dennis Williams
Gone but not forgotten
Yup. Exhibit A M'lady...after the main suspect dropped in...?
#1230 is down High St. in the Bull Ring. The photo #1223 is in fact where Viv says but the buildings may have changed by the time the bombs fell. Hen And Chickens portico on the left. Have not seen #1223 before...not a photo that old anyway. Possibly the damage was done by the same string of bombs. There is a more immediately after the event photo of that bombing somewhere.
Phil
Gone, but not forgotten.
Dennis Williams
Gone but not forgotten
Agreed Phil..Can you post the one with the scaffolding looking down Worcester St? That's a cracker too..
Phil
Gone, but not forgotten.
Dennis,
Do you mean this one? As I said to you previously, the reason why they excavated so deep was to accommodate the service tunnels that ran from Moor St all under the big top site. I have had our lorries down there many times when we have worked on the various units throughout the site.
Do you mean this one? As I said to you previously, the reason why they excavated so deep was to accommodate the service tunnels that ran from Moor St all under the big top site. I have had our lorries down there many times when we have worked on the various units throughout the site.
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![City New St BigTop1.[1].jpg](/forum/data/attachments/9/9360-1ad215344df897051ac70fa46255d574.jpg?hash=GtIVNE34lw)
So directly ahead Phil, are we looking at what became the Rotunda/Lloyds Bank or thereabouts? Viv.
Dennis Williams
Gone but not forgotten
That's the one Phil, cheers. Lovely view down Worcester St, now gone for the Rotunda complex, as Viv noted...this is an opposite view..
Dennis Williams
Gone but not forgotten
I think this shows that Rupert was probably right, forty odd years before Mr Hitler.... Redevelopment went on unabated even in those days...
Dennis Williams
Gone but not forgotten
Another puzzler for me. This great shot of the Stork Hotel in Corporation Street shows a road going downhill to the left of this Gothic masterpiece. Can't figure out whereabouts it was? Name of side road and 'todays' location anyone? Was it Bull St perhaps?
Here is an early 1900s photo of New St. right by the old King Edwards school. The entrance to the Midland Arcade can be seen immediate right. This would have been across from the Hen and Chicken's portico and indeed for a while the entrance to the Hen and Chicken's was an extended arcade with an exit/entrance down Worcester Street. Further along New St in the photo can be seen the curved arch entrance to the City? Arcade I think and these arcades linked up. There was another arcade entrance in High St. They were all covered and very Victorian. Further along New St. was the entrance to good old Union Passage. About opposite the Boveril bus and a little further past the bus on the same side as it, was good old Peck Lane just visible.
Looks like they were working on the exchange.
One of the worst aspects of the bombing was that it destroyed this arcade system before most of us would be able to experience it, however there is just a little bit remaining even now...it links Warwick Passage to Union Passage and still has the same old chandalier the last picture I saw. German bombs or not ...it would all have been scrunched now. I remember the handcarts well...they were still around. This photo was posted before by other's unknown. Maybe Phill, still won't hurt to show again.
Looks like they were working on the exchange.
One of the worst aspects of the bombing was that it destroyed this arcade system before most of us would be able to experience it, however there is just a little bit remaining even now...it links Warwick Passage to Union Passage and still has the same old chandalier the last picture I saw. German bombs or not ...it would all have been scrunched now. I remember the handcarts well...they were still around. This photo was posted before by other's unknown. Maybe Phill, still won't hurt to show again.
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This has been on here before and is to do with the old/New Royal hotel and Portugal House postings. It's an old early photo of what I believe is New St at Ethel and is 1870 era by the look of the old 'knife board' horse bus. I'm not sure if that terminology is right, still, the curved staircase on the bus only became the design in 1870 and prior to that one climbed on top by a series of metal rings. Only gentlemen obviously. Anyway I believe that is indeed Ethel St. on the right and on the corner is the last sighting of what was the right wing of the New Royal Hotel. It all seems to be about to be demolished by this time and there are some anomolies in the view. The Theater Royal is along New St., just beyond, and I can't make it out for the life of me. But thinking back, in our time the frontage might not have been very prominent and it changed from time to time. The photo is an early one also...movement is not captured well. The block frontage on the building with carved writing, looks like what you would expect a Post Office might look like and the windows have dissappeared on the Ethel side of the wing. But still, these would not have been a requirement for a Post Office, which is what it became at the end. The drawings for the post office modification show a door to the post office on the Ethel side of the street and the photo shows the door on the front...taking the place of the left window on the remaining wing. Anyway the old drawings may not have been 'As Built's' and having been in engineering for 60 years...I know there is a difference.
Further to this, the building is up to the street frontage where the old long portico once was but the demolished part above is pretty much what one can see in the modification drawings...sans windows which would have dissappeared when the frontage was brought forward. Anyway hope the photo's come through. Both pictures are from previous post's by others.
Further to this, the building is up to the street frontage where the old long portico once was but the demolished part above is pretty much what one can see in the modification drawings...sans windows which would have dissappeared when the frontage was brought forward. Anyway hope the photo's come through. Both pictures are from previous post's by others.
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Dennis Williams
Gone but not forgotten
Great photos Rupert. Here's one of the same area of New Street, and about the same time circa 1904. Note the guy cleaning the windows on the immediate right, and almost opposite, what looks like one of those tiny Regency bewigged coloured jockeys you used to see statues of outside some shops (God knows what they sold), who appears to be just about to commit suicide by jumping off the window ledge into the Street.....??? And didn't Peck Lane disappear in the 1850s?
The building where the bloke's cleaning the windows, next to Pearsall's #9 New Street, is pinned in two places. Looks like a georgian building. Wonder if this was one of those that were cleared and re-built pre- WW2 bombing. The buildings closer to High St seem to have been cleared c.1875 re. post #1238, but this photo is 1900s. So maybe clearance of this corner was a very slowly phased process. Basically it looks like they were cleared on that corner because they were falling down.
Some great photos coming out on this thread. Viv.
Some great photos coming out on this thread. Viv.
Dennis
As can be seen here , it is Lower Priory
And here is the said Stork Hotel with Lower Priory on its left, in the the very last months of its survival. Courtesy DJ Norton.
https://www.photobydjnorton.com/OldSquare.html