Tour of Lost Birmingham Nᵒ.12: Public Buildings and a New Urban Awareness

King Edwards' School

From the Georgian period there was a rise in the number of public buildings in English provincial towns, but also more architectural awareness in designing these buildings to achieve a specific image for the town. Architectural styles were moving from the vernacular to the classical; earlier buildings were often simply designed or appropriated preceding buildings.* In Birmingham pre-eighteenth century institutions, such as the grammar school and the prison, were housed in older buildings. The school building was the old Guild Hall and thought to date from at least 100 years beforehand, and the prison used the old Leather Hall, a remnant of Birmingham’s once famous market in leather.* Both of these institutions were re-housed in the early 1700s, though only the school moved to a custom built building.  It was not till later in the century that the town’s public buildings were designed to emit prestige and to be focal points within the urban landscape.

Two of Birmingham’s first public buildings were the Market Cross and the Welsh Cross which stood at the two opposing ends of the High Street by the first decade of the eighteenth century.  They provided modest market cover which consisted of a lower arcade with a room above for public meetings and, in the case of the Welsh Cross, a guard room. These buildings were small, understated and had quite general functions, and both had clocks, which was advantageous when the majority could not afford their own timepiece. King Edward’s School on New Street though (above), built only a few years later, was constructed on a much grander scale. It consisted of a central part set back from the street with two wings decorated with a cornice and surmounted by an elegant balustrade. The urns were added in 1756. The central tower, with another clock, rose in four stages topped with a cupola, decorated with Corinthian columns at the first stage and a niche at the third stage containing a statue of Edward VI.* The school needed to be larger to accommodate the pupils, but the building had been designed to be a focal point, using classical influence to promote grandeur and encourage esteem.

Blue Coat School
Workhouse
General Hospital

~Three eighteenth century public buildings.~

Over the rest of the eighteenth century there were three main public buildings erected, the Blue Coat School (1724), the workhouse (1733) and the hospital (1765-79), all of which were built for the poorer of society and constructed in a similar Palladian style. All were also extended later in the century to accommodate a continued growing need for them. Each had a central pediment with simple, austere and imposing facades which could be confused as Georgian country houses, in fact, William Hutton stated as much about the workhouse.* All of these buildings, though, were relatively un-ornamented and from the beginning of the nineteenth century the architectural style of Birmingham’s public buildings can be seen to change. William Hollins’s public offices on Moor Street (1807) were criticised for the ‘unnecessary use of classical ornament for so utilitarian a building’,* but neoclassical design was predominant in Birmingham for the next 30 or 40 years.

~Into the nineteenth century.~

From the late eighteenth century a transition can be seen as to who public buildings were built for, and this is more predominantly the middle classes. The library (1799), Public Offices (1807), News Room (1828), Society of Arts Building (1828), and Town Hall (1834) are all assertions of a middle class presence. Classical ornament became more overt, symbolising perhaps the prosperity and prestige of the town and its people. The Society of Arts building was a prominent example of the neoclassical style, with its protruding portico supported by Corinthian columns overhanging New Street's walkway. The library, which was later extended, had originally consisted of a central bowed entrance with decorative fan lights, and a single bay either side divided by Doric pilasters on the lower floor and Ionic on the upper. By far the grandest neoclassical addition to Birmingham’s landscape though was the Town Hall. The design was by Hansom and Welch, but due to them going bankrupt part way through building, completed by Charles Edge. The building had been designed after the temple of Castor and Pollux in Rome, and had a rusticated base topped with Corinthian columns, and would have towered over the surrounding buildings. It was built to house Birmingham's renowned musical concerts, plus events, public dinners and large town meetings; Charles Dicken's talked here, Mendelssohn performed, and Queen Victoria was received at the Town Hall when she visited in 1858. It was the central status symbol of culture in the town.

The construction of public buildings promoted the prestige, prosperity and aspirations of the town. Over the period covered here architectural awareness developed, as well as an appreciation of the town landscape as a whole. Most of the public buildings constructed in the early part of the nineteenth century were designed by Birmingham based architects but national competitions were held for the designs, some receiving 50 or more entries, as it was important to get the best design to make the right statement about the town. Buildings also became more specialised and different kinds of buildings were needed for varying functions required in the growing town. Many of these functions had been developed by the growing middle classes, for leisure and entertainment, for education (both of themselves and the poor), and as methods of regulating and, sometimes, ordering the growing town and its people.

MAIN PUBLIC BUILDINGS OF THE PERIOD
---------pre eighteenth century
King Edwards Free Grammar School on New Street in mid 1500s, rebuilt 1707 and in 1833-1838 (demolished 193)
Prison in the Leather Hall on New Street in 1600s (or earlier), demolished 1728, newly built at Bridgewell House near Pinfold Street in 1733, extended into Peck Lane in 1757, new building on Moor Street in 1795 (all demolished)
---------eighteenth century
Old Cross near the Bull Ring in 1702 (demolished 1784)
Welsh Cross near Dale End by 1706 (demolished 1803)
Blue Coat School on Temple Row in 1724, enlarged and refaced in 1794 (demolished 1935)
Workhouse on Lichfield Street in 1733 (Aston had a workhouse from 1700), infirmary wing added in 1766, labour wing added in 1779, moved to Winson Green in 1852 (both demolished)
Court House (or Court of Requests) on High Street used a house built in circa 1650 from 1752 (demolished)
Protestant Dissenting Charity School on Park Street in 1760 (demolished)
Hospital on Summer Lane between 1765-1779, wings added in 1790 (demolished)
Asylum for the Infant Poor on Summer Lane in 1797 (demolished)
Library on Union Street between 1798-1799 (demolished 1899)
--------nineteenth century till 1858
Public Office on Moor Street between 1805-1807 (demolished)
General Dispensary on Union Street in 1808 (demolished 1957)
Deaf and Dumb Institution on Calthorpe Street in 1814 (?)
Infant School on Ann Street in 1823 (demolished)
News Rooms on Bennett’s Hill in 1828 (demolished)
Society of Arts on New Street in 1828 (demolished)
Town Hall on Paradise Street in 1834
Market Hall on High Street from 1828-1835 (demolished 1962 after bomb damage in 1940)
Queens College on Paradise Street from 1843-1845 (re-fronted 1904)
People’s Hall of Science on Loveday Street in 1846 (demolished)
Poor Law Offices on Paradise Street in 1854 (demolished)

NOTES
* References available on request. Also see, Peter Borsay, The English Urban Renaissance: Culture and Society in the Provincial Town 1660-1770 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991)
Images courtesy of Birmingham Library and Archive Services.