See Birmingham by Post Card

[john knight]

Good morning all,
To put all the cards on would take a month of sundays,
so here;s the link;

postcardworld.co.uk

Be warned, there are over 200 images on the Birmingham page alone.
Just for tasters here's a few more....

 

[john knight]

Forgot to say, when you type link in, type it into the images section of IE that way you will get thumbnail
pics of the cards, enjoy.

 

[Stitcher]

The Queens Hospital in Bath Row was under the patronage of Her Majesty, The Earl of Dudley being President; this charity was indebted for it's origin to the late William Sands Fox F.R.R. and was incorperated as a Clinical Hospital, 12th Aug. 1867. The foundation stone was laid 18th June 1840 by Earl Howe, and in the following year the building designed by Messrs Bateman and Drury, and erected at a cost of £8,746 was opened by the Lord Bishop of Worcester.

The Hospital was supported by annual subscriptions, and had 132 beds; connected with it were detatched wards, and there was also an obstetric department, to which deserving persons properly recommended were admitted. A building for the out-patient together with laundry and mortuary, was erected in 1873, at a cost of £10,000; of which the working people of Birmingham contributed £4,000. The old and new buildings were connected by a glazed passage which was used by the patients as a promenade. There were extensive grounds for the use of convalescents. The number of in-patients for the year 1808 was 2,020, and out-patients totalled 26,539.

The building became Birmingham Accident Hospital in 1941.
The building was eventually closed and 1993 the frontage was listed and incorperated into new accomodation for University Students.

 

[Stitcher]

A postcard picture of Alum Rock Rd. Highfield Rd is on the right.

 

[Phil]

A sort of before, in the middle, and after collection.
One is The Big Top Site before the bombing.

Another one is the reason why it is known as The Big Top Site.

The last is of the site after it was rebuilt.

Phil

 

[motorman-mike]

Here is a pretty one and interesting that Bournville was in Worcestershire when this card was printed.

 

[bren]

The Queens Hospital in Bath Row was under the patronage of Her Majesty, The Earl of Dudley being President;

That's a nice bit of information to go with that picture Stitcher, thank you


bren

 

[Stitcher]

Thanks Bren.

 

[sospiri]

Here's three postcards of the city centre which I hope haven't been posted before:

Queens & North Western Hotel - date stamped 18 January 1908

The interior of the Market Hall - date stamped 20 July 1910

The Law Courts on what looks like a wintry day - date stamped 4 August 1906

Regards,

Maurice

 

[sospiri]

And three more, but the second one may already have been posted:-

Stephenson Place - date stamped 13 September 1907

The Bull Ring - 1959

Sherbourne Road, Acocks Green - undated but I guess around 1907

Regards,

Maurice

 

[Lloyd]

A nice picture of the old Queens Hotel frontage before it became filthy with dirt and soot - and how it could have looked if restored and not torn down like much of the city centre!

 

[The Baron]

I John, re your post, I found this one very interesting as it show the old BROOKVALE PARK SWIMMINGH POOL in the back ground, I posted a copy (in I think PARKS) of one showing the baths them selves when first opened.

 

[Peter Walker]

That picture of the Queen's Hotel, front of New Street Station, really has me thinking. The sign says 'Central Railway Station', a name which I thought was not used after a separate station was built to the south for the Midland Railway in the early 1880s. On the other hand, you can see some trees planted on the footpath. There is a date quoted for when that became Corporation policy, which I thought was well into the 1880s. I must look it up some time, but it's far too late tonight.
Peter

 

[sospiri]

Three more postcards which may, or may not, have been posted before:-

Stratford Road - undated Valentine card with the Angel Hotel on the right

The Green, Kings Norton - postmarked 4 February 1905 and published by H.J. Guest, Kings Norton and Birmingham

Moseley Village - undated from the Dainty Series

Regards,

Maurice

 

[motorman-mike]

This has to be way back. The Council House extention with it's connecting bridge has yet to appear in this view of Big Brum.

 

[sospiri]

Mike:

My version of that same postcard is postmarked 4th October 1904

Maurice

 

[Stitcher]

Digbeth and Rea St.

 

[sospiri]

A good one there, Stitcher. It's got a bit of everything!

 

[Stitcher]

Yes, but its changed a lot from then.

 

[sospiri]

I bet it has - a good few years since I was down that way!

 

[Frothblower]

Bit different today

 

[Peter Walker]

Frothy,
I rather think things have changed since your pic - the last time I was there, before Christmas, I thought the whole of the Digbeth Garage buildings had been razed to the ground.
The 1930s picture is certainly a cracker - taken before Midland Red gottheir hands on any of the buildings fronting on to Digbeth, but on reflection I think that may not have happened until well after the war.
It's a bit unfortunate that the camera was at exactly the same level as all the overhead wires, so that they look like a horizontal line across the picture.
Thanks very much for a good'un.
Peter

 

[Phil]

I was going to post this photo because of its local interest, when the background caught my eye. It led me to thinking what a city of tower blocks and skyscrapers we are becoming.

A few months back a lot of laughs were directed at a PR firm that published the wrong skyline of Birmingham (I was one of those that laughed), but if you look at the two side by side it is no wonder that this mistake could be made. I still believe it should have been stopped before it got to the publishing stage.

Phil

26/01/2012. Sorry I no longer have the joint skyline photo of the US & UK Birmingham

 

[sospiri]

Phil:

We're back to money again. How many souls can you squeeze into a square yard? The only way is up!

The same reason why they're totally devoid of any architectural merit!

Maurice

 

[Lloyd]

Hmm, I don't think so. The thinking in the fifties and early sixties was comfortable housing, no wasted space (without accommodation being cramped) and 'communties'.
Tower blocks often replaced dense terraced back-to-back housing, with little open space, shared toilet and washing (laundry) facilities and cramped conditions but with a strong community spirit, the intention being to give the best of accommodation, your own toilet and laundry (& balcony to hang out to dry on), lots of open green spaces around and keeping the community of the block inhabitants.
At first most tenants said the flats were wonderful beyond their wildest dreams, clean, warm, with enough space and (if you were high up) spectacular views. Only later when behaviour worsened did the trouble start, and the towers became bad places.
The parents of a colleague of mine lived at the turn of the century in a block in Windmill Lane, Smethwick, where all the tenants were pensioners. It was a wonderful place, clean, well decorated and a friendly community.
It's the people that spoil places, not the buildings themselves.

 

[Phil]

Lloyd

Never having lived in flats of any sort I have to agree with some of your points, but I believe there are still inherent problems with using tower blocks as living accommodation.

I would think that one major one being that unless the block has some sort of a community meeting place you never get to meet most of your neighbors unless it is in the lift that is of course if it is working.

OK its people that spoil places and not the bricks and mortar, but lets face it some of the blocks are really ugly to start with, couple that with the fact that the problems are real and they are here now. Then we have to do something about it.

Phil

 

[sospiri]

Lloyd:

Whilst agreeing with your last three sentences, I tend to agree with Phil that these blocks are not ideal place to rear families. If mother is on the 10th floor, it's more or less impossible for her to keep on eye on the kids if they go out.

For pensioners, they're pretty good - my own brother moved into one in Hampshire a couple of years ago - but even then, their adult children really need to be close at hand if they're living alone.

Here in Greece, the family unit stays together and the young 'uns look after the old 'uns, and the kids have much more respect for their elders.

I frequently wonder, if by splitting up generations, we have contributed to the general lack of respect, high number of fatherless children, and general lawlessness so prevalent in the UK.

Maurice

 

[Rupert]

I have to agree with the just prior posts. It is not easy to make simple contact with neighbors in an apartment/tower and it is bad behavior of the people that causes problems. There is no garden fence to make contact over. (good fences make good neighbors). I don't know what the situation is now but rented council houses used to be the main system years ago. There is no sense of ownership in this and maybe no pride in maintaining an investment that one does not have. The upwards movement has curtailed the outwards spread though. If you look at the Pheasy Estate today you will see that it has not expanded much since the 50s and there is open country there. I think that it is hard to have a comunity in a tower; they are impersonal things and the visual conception is overwhelming to start with. A much better concept is wide ring road streets, in my opinion, with shops at street level and maybe four levels of accomodation above and well concieved street housing behind similar to some Parisian older development. (seem to have been this route before) Anyway imagine this and trams down the middle of the ring raods...tree lined. It could have been and it would have lasted much longer than what was done. There is new development in the Woodbine Beeches area in Toronto that is along these lines...including the trams. I doubt that GB ever had the financial viability, after two major wars and the loss of the Empire, to do much on any front. Perhaps the future back then was what is fact now. It happens.

 

[motorman-mike]

Maurice thank you for putting a date to my Big Brum posting, meanwhile an open balcony tram approaches the top of the Rock in about the early 1900's.
Mike

 

[sospiri]

That's a good pic too, Mike. You can almost climb into it!

Maurice