Wesleyan And General Building

[Astoness]

hi folks..just been going through some pics that were taken by my bros mate and came accross this sad one...almost demolished but who knows what building this was..bet this wont take long...yet another piece of distruction by the powers that be....:disgust: i do have a pic of this building before the ball and chain gang started on it...

lyn

 

[Shortie]

Lyn, is it the Wesleyan? That's the first thought that came into my head, I may be way wrong, just a wild guess.

 

[Vivienne14]

This might help. What I find interesting about this is that there was an enormous hole in front of the building in the 1960s called a subway and the Gaumont Cinema to the right. Viv

 

[Phil]

Yes I think shortie is right an its the Wesleyan Insurance building on Steelhouse Lane.

 

[Shortie]

Wow - I am both shocked and pleased! My powers of observation must be better than I thought. I did like this building though - Victorian buildings are not my favourite, but they were built to last from good materials and done with skills that have since largely been lost. I often wondered why they could not just have altered it and extended it in similar style. The new building that Pinsents and the Wesleyan are in is bland and uninteresting.

 

[Vivienne14]

Well done Shortie. When I worked in Fountain Court on Steelhouse Lane in the 1970s I remember the Wesleyan Building as a dark, dominating, gothic type building. But now I know it's gone it seems so sad. I also feel sad that the Gaumont next door has gone. Viv.

 

[Shortie]

Me too Viv. You are right about the Wesleyan, it was dark and probably was a bit overbearing, but it was properly built and built to last so what do they do? It beggars belief. On its own it might have looked a bit odd in amongst the glass and mirrored buildings we have in that area today, thinking on.

 

[Astoness]

yes well done shortie it is the wesleyan and general building...vivs pic gives us a good idea of just how far back it went...if you look at the demo pic i posted you can see daylight through the front doors so they must have started demolishing it from the back of the building and worked their way to the front...shortie if they work on the principal that all our old buildings look out of place amongst the glass ones then god help the ones we do have left..on the other hand we could always think that had it been left to stand it may have proved that all these glass buildings are not really anything to shout about..i know for sure which ones i would rather stand and admire and take pics of.....its a crying shame...

lyn

 

[Shortie]

Lyn, just look at the time and effort, not to mention skill, that went into this building. It must have been quite dark inside I think, but how glorious it would be to have this still standing instead of the new one, which is quite soulless. A crying shame indeed that not only this, but others too, are not still with us.

 

[Astoness]

and thats the point shortie...we no longer need the skills or the quality of materials anymore and so what we have left now is it....buildings such as this will never see the light of day again and as i have said many times before the ones that are being slung up now just will not stand the test of time as already proven with the demolision of buildings and houses that were built in the 60s and 70s...
lyn

 

[Frothblower]

The replacement building is over 20 years old and still my favourite. Yes the old building was nice but none of us last for ever.

 

[Astoness]

crikey froth...a whole 20 years old lol...i like the shape of this one..as least its not straight up and down...i guess the time will come when anything over 50 years old will be grade listed and classed as historical.....like we always say..each to his own but i prefer the original building...

lyn

 

[cookie273uk]

When I think of beautiful buildings like the original Library, the Wesleyan, Snowhill station, the old market hall etc etc....buildings which have stood the test of time, only to be replaced by glass and concrete monstrosities with a limited shelf life I despair. We could do so much better look at Fountain Court, now that I do like. Other cities preserve their ancient buildings why cannot we ???. Sorry to rant but over my 8 decades I have seen the Birmingham I love slowly disappearing. Eric

 

[Astoness]

as always eric i am with you 100%

lyn

 

[Stitcher]

Hello Eric (cookie), I have to agree with you because a friend of mine who is still involved in the Hackney Carriage and sightseeing game tells me that he cannot recall any visitors from abroad, EU. or otherwise who show the slightest interest in any of the new buildings. They all talk about the disregard for the wonderful architecture we once had in this great city of Birmingham. Can you really imagine someone in perhaps sixty years time talking about the exiting moments and experiences of shopping with their mothers in the city when they were toddlers.

 

[Wendy]

This is why there has been an upsurge in visitors to the large cities in Poland. Some people just visit to see the architecture Krakow looks wonderful, a place I would like to visit. I don't think many would visit Brum for the buildings now.

 

[Frothblower]

Erdington must be good then Wendy, because all the poles are here.:unconscious:

 

[Astonian]

hi cookie
yes i wil rubber stamp that as correct as i am on the slow side of just of late being not getting to the site dail like i used to do
owing to my bussiess i had a chance early today and emdiately with out hestiation ; i reconised it straight away
with out pondering ; my friend and i can recall the lass building being built as well ;
silly me i thought i would be the first o get in on the shout because i never relized it had been put on early than today ;
any way cookie [garett street lad ] would you recall the gregoy family ; by the way ; i beleive his father was a police officier in some foreign country the named country just slipped my memory at the moment ; i think there is alot of people on the forum use the expressio n ; a senior moment ; ha ;
any way congratulations on being the first ; best wishes astonian ; alan ;;;;;

 

[jennyann]

This link is to the Wesleyan & General Assurance site in celebration of their being in business for
170 years in 2011. There are several photos of the old building exterior and interior through the decades on Steelhouse Lane also
their new headquarters on Colmore Circus with photos of the excavation and demolition of the Steelhouse
Lane building https://www.flickr.com/photos/wesleyan1841/

 

[Astonian]

hi stitch ;
we are in the 21 st centuary now stitch and its called space age ; remember your dan dare comics
and all those big glas illstrates pictures and we are all flying around in the air on space age bikes another centry you will be buying your daily pills of food
and all that stuff the dan dare stuff you read mate ; i am trying to think of a book i came across some years ago and it was by one of the cadbury
brothers and his ideals of our city ws gonna be like ; around the hall of memory and it was all glass this was many years and i mean years ago before any other building in the city was ever thought about doing i thought he waspipe dreaming but is vision was slowly coming together
i do agree thou with you i myself do not like this city of glass now ; we are copyiny the yanks they are very impressionable are,nt they
did you see the news even china as copyed them with one of there posh cityies in america ;nobody in there yet
i think it was brooklyn they have built ; its our councilors onthere so calked enterprized trips for bussiness and come back with ideas
yesterday we had a load od japs ; come to worcestershire city al with cameras taking picts of our anciant city we have some really archichec building down
here may be they will go back with some of our ideas thats what they did in the fortys and fiftys didnt they all came with cameras and took our industry apart and copyed our style ; but yes the oldbuiolding like the tsb on broad street should be saved along with baskerville house
if you have not been in tjhere you want to take a look it is marvellous ; astonian ;

 

[Pedrocut]

St Chad's Circus. One of the modern buildings the Wesleyan Assurance Society architects Peter Hing and Jones.

Looking at Birmingham (1994)

 

[Pedrocut]

Photo of the rear of the Wesleyan General Insurance building, with a family visible in the corner and a red Line drawn on for planning purposes.
Reverse reads: "Date 25 July 1968.
(Birmingham Archives and Collections)



Wesleyan General Insurance building 2020.

 

[Donbogen]

I prefer the old WG
Not these Flak Tower
Bunker type buildings
My Nan worked in the canteen
in the 60s i was only a Lad
but i was allowed in
for a glass of Pop etc

 

[Richard Dye]

I prefer the old WG
Not these Flak Tower
Bunker type buildings
My Nan worked in the canteen
in the 60s i was only a Lad
but i was allowed in
for a glass of Pop etc

Notice how these assurance/insurance companies mostly seem to all have large fancy buildings. A friend of mine always believes it’s because they have so much money they have to spend it , he said that jokingly but I think there is something to it!