General Post Office 1890 Victoria Square

[Vivienne14]

We don't appear to have a thread dedicated to this grand old building, but it's one we'd all recognise even now. Thanks to the hard work of the Birmingham Victorian Society it's still there for us to admire today. A little bit of history:

The General Post Office built in 1890, was designed by Sir Henry Tanner of the Office of Works. Its design is simple, French Renaissance chateau style with pediments, cupolas and dome. The Birmingham Victorian Society carried out a successful campaign to save the building from demolition in 1973. And twenty years later the Trustee Savings Bank refurbished the building and cleaned the stonework to become its head office. No longer a post office, the building houses a Grade II listed Post Office counter. It is now called Victoria Square House.

This photo shows the Central Birmingham GPO in its heyday.

 

[jennyann]

Thanks for posting this pic Viv. This building certainly stands out especially where it's located,on top of a couple of Brum's hills. I used to
use the Post Office a lot when I worked in Queen's College Chambers in Paradise Street to post the office mail and buy postal orders. Such an interesting building inside,
I only saw the ground floor. I also used to go in there to have a look at telephone books from other cities to see if I could find for anyone with my family name.

I had a look around online for some more details about the building and found Jenni Coles-Harris' site which I had mislaid the link to. This site is amazing and
is being added to all the time. I seem to remember the site being on BHF some time back. This link is for info on the General Post Office:https://mappingbirmingham.blogspot.ca/2012/06/post-office-new-street.html

This site has photos of the Post Office.https://britishpostofficearchitects.weebly.com/birmingham.html

 

[Vivienne14]

Thanks Jennyann. I walked past the GPO every day to work but never went inside. Wish I had now. Yes agree the mappingbirmingham site is excellent. The post office on there is the previous one which was on New Street, and was a mere shadow of its later, grander replacement in Victoria Square. Three more views. The last one is 1922, but afraid no dates for the other two. Viv.

 

[jabbatheprawn]

great photos. could somebody name the person that the statue is dedicated to. did not know there was ever a statue there. and if possible is it still on display. thank you in advance.

 

[Vivienne14]

Afraid I don't know who it is but have made close-ups of three of the posted photos plus another which shows a clearer view. The 4th photo looks to be another person. But I wondered if this is in a slightly different spot I.e. a little nearer the Town Hall. Viv.

 

[jennyann]

Hi Viv: Thanks for the closeups of the statue. I think it must be the much talked about statue of King Edward V11th. El Brown took some
photos of the statue when it was renovated and moved from Highgate in the last few years. When the statue was in Victoria Square it
was facing New Street. Here's an article from the Victorian Society about the statue which makes fascinating reading recalling the day
it was unveiled https://www.victorian-society-bham.org.uk/Edward_VII_statue.pdf Here's the link to the BHF thread to which several members
contributed: https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=12492&page=4

 

[Phil]

The gentleman in question on the plinth is Sir Robert Peel before he started his journey around Birmingham that included Calthorpe Park and the Police College, I think he may be in storage at the moment.

 

[Phil]

My mistake, I thought because of the recent upheaval in that area he might have been moved again, but I just took a look on Google and he is still there outside the police college.

 

[jennyann]

Thanks Phil. It did seem that the King's statue had a mantle around him with several folds and glad that you have straightened that out. Glad to hear that
Sir Robert Peel is still on display outside the Police College.

 

[ellbrown]

Some modern photos of it.

In 2009



Door in 2011



Clock in 2011



Royal coat of arms in 2009

 

[ellbrown]

The 1991 extension towards Navigation Street.







Note that new offices have been installed at New Street Station.

 

[Vivienne14]

Thanks all. Ell, nice to see the PO cleaned up, I only remember it as dark and dirty.
I thought there might be two statues very close to the Post Office in the early 1900s and this 1904 view shows just that. I expect it all depends on the angle of the photo as to whether they both appear at the same time. Just realised what I've written (doh!), of course it depends on the angle! But I'm sure you get my drift. Viv.

 

[derekw]

The 1991 extension towards Navigation Street.







Note that new offices have been installed at New Street Station.

The new offices belong to a rail operator...Cross Country I believe.

 

[ellbrown]

I think so. I recall that Virgin Pendolino trains on platform 1 go past it.

No problem Viv.

The only sculpture next to Victoria Square House is Anthony Gomley's Iron: Man, which I think that the then TSB commissioned it (when they had headquarters here)

 

[mikejee]

Appropriate as it seems to be rising from the earth, just like the TSB is rising from oblivion with the breakup of Lloyds Bank

 

[ellbrown]

Found this on the British Library Flickr.

Assume it was from this building.


Image taken from page 621 of 'The Making of Birmingham: being a history of the rise and growth of the Midland metropolis ... With ... illustrations, etc' by The British Library, on Flickr

And another one


Image taken from page 620 of 'The Making of Birmingham: being a history of the rise and growth of the Midland metropolis ... With ... illustrations, etc' by The British Library, on Flickr

 

[Paul Walton]

The 1991 extension towards Navigation Street.







Note that new offices have been installed at New Street Station.

These offices were originally built as the headquarters for The Trustee Savings Bank (TSB) shortly before their merger with Lloyds Bank, after which they were effectively defunct.

 

[lbrown]

I was wondering if anyone knew what was in the post office between 1972 and 1992. I understand the sorting office moved to what is now the Mailbox in 1972 and TSB moved into the new extension in 1992. What the building empty in the 20 years in between or did the front still operate as a post office or was it used for something else?

 

[Gerard_RM]

I was wondering if anyone knew what was in the post office between 1972 and 1992. I understand the sorting office moved to what is now the Mailbox in 1972 and TSB moved into the new extension in 1992. What the building empty in the 20 years in between or did the front still operate as a post office or was it used for something else?

I remember changing the lamps in the front office about 1975/78 when I was an apprentice Post Office Engineer. We worked off tall stepladders and the globes were about 600mm diameter - scary. So the Post Office was still in the original place into the late 70s at least. I also visited the vacant rear sorting offices and writing rooms keeping it safe and watertight when I was a building maintenance manager up to when it was demolished. The last mail sorting presence was in a building in the back yard at the bottom of the hill.