Arlington - House and Extension

Arlington - House and Extension

Image by roger4336
This photo of my house shows the extension, which contains an extra room and a half-bath at the rear. Many of the houses in Westover had extensions like this. A builder had designed it for these houses.

Statue of Queen Victoria (Birmingham Central Library and the Council House)

Image by ell brown
statue of Queen Victoria in Victoria Square, Birmingham

Just in front of the Council House. To the left in Chamberlain Square is Birmingham Central Library.

Council House Extension - Heritage Gateway

The current building was opened in 1974 and is the third library in the vicinity. It was designed by John Madin, a Birmingham architect and its inverted ziggurat form is a powerful example of the Brutalist style. With the Rotunda (Birmingham) tower and the Alpha Tower, it is one of Birmingham's key Modernist buildings. The Central Library is a complex multi-level structure which extends below the Centenary Square ground level to form part of a busy junction (Paradise Circus) on the Inner Ring Road and was to have included a bus station at the road level, although this was never provided. Originally it was intended that the Central Library would be set in landscaped gardens, with five pools, and that Centenary Square could be extended at full width to the library. However, the sale of the land upon which the Copthorne Hotel and Chamberlain House now stand has frustrated this objective. When built, the main Central Library building was open to pedestrians at ground level making a generous public link between Chamberlain Square and Centenary Square, albeit with a pedestrian subway (since replaced by a bridge) to what is now Centenary Square. This space was roofed and enclosed in 1989 after the footbridge (which carries 11.8m people a year) was built and the inner ring road lowered as part of improvements to pedestrian access to Centenary Square. The area now forms Paradise Forum, containing bars, restaurants and shops and open as a pedestrian route, 24 hours a day. The appearance of the library building has been much criticised, mostly due to the staining of the stone chip and concrete cladding panels which have not been cleaned or replaced with stone cladding (as was originally proposed). The building has famously been described by Prince Charles as "looking more like a place for burning books, than keeping them". Nonetheless, the Twentieth Century Society is leading a campaign for its retention.

Birmingham Central Library - Wapedia

Argent Group PLC acquired Paradise Forum and Chamberlain House at Paradise Circus in 2004. Together with major landowners, it says it is working to improve the environment around Paradise Circus. It has produced a masterplan study in conjunction with Birmingham City Council and the University of Central England that would potentially create a 2,200,000 sq ft (204,000 m2) mixed use scheme for the site. Argent states that it has invested £2 million in a refurbishment programme to "improve the physical environment, offer an improved mix of facilities and create a safe and bright pedestrian thoroughfare under the Argent management regime implemented at Brindleyplace". The northern part of the pedestrian level peters out in a temporary steel staircase, descending to road level. The City Council proposes to demolish the existing central library building so that a pedestrian street axis extending from Centenary Square to the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery can be formed. As part of the scheme, a new Library of Birmingham began construction in January 2010 on Centenary Square beside the Birmingham Rep theatre.

The square gained its name when Thomas Brock's statue of Queen Victoria was unveiled in 1901. A copy - at the insistence of the patron, W.H. Barber, a Birmingham solicitor - of Brock's statue at the Shire Hall, Worcester. Originally white marble, re-cast in bronze in 1951 by William Bloye.

From Pevsner Architectural Guides: Birmingham by Andy Foster

House on a Rainy Day

Image by Universal Pops
This house, for me, is a quandary; I don’t know what style it is or if it is a mix of styles. The photo was taken (with my old camera) in a light rain, which gives the vegetation an unusual look.

It has two stories with a steep pitched roof, front gable and gables on both sides. The gables are characterized by gingerbread work. The porch is small with two entrances, neither with any prominent features. Steps lead to the porch which has turned balusters. Slender posts rise to the porch roof with slender ornamental brackets where they meet the roof. Woodwork of a cross-shaped design is suspended from the juncture with the roof. A glassed-in porch seems in keeping with the style of the home. Windows on the first level are tall with 2/2 panes; the second level windows are very slender 1/1. The house has an extension at the rear, which may or ay not have been part of the original. I have no date for this structure.

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Gas Hall - Chamberlain Square - scaffolding - Yell - Street Wiser advert

Image by ell brown
Gas Hall from Chamberlain Square is currently getting renovated and is under scaffolding. Thought while it has this Yell advert on it, that I would get a shot of it.

You can also see it from Paradise Circus (if near the Town Hall and Fletchers Walk).

Street Wiser - Yell (Yellow Pages).

Council House Extension is Grade II* listed.

Joined to the main building by a bridge on a broad segmental arch over Chamberlain
Square and bounded by Great Charles Street, Queensway B3, Congreve Passage B3,
Chamberlain Square B3 and Margaret Street B3 is the Council House extension housing
also the Feeney Art Galleries of the City Museum and Art Gallery. 1911-9 by Ashley
and Newman. Stone. Two storeys plus basement and attic. In an Edwardian
Renaissance rather than Baroque style with banded rustication to the ground floor and
a giant order in the upper floors.

Council House Extension - Heritage Gateway

Hidden behind is the BT Tower!


It is for Birmingham History Galleries.

Bowfell House

Image by Wojtek Gurak
designed by Phillip Hubbard. Windermere, Cumbria

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