Council House, Birmingham

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Council House, Birmingham

Birmingham City Council House in Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city status in the United Kingdom and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. Birmingham is the most populous of England's English Core Cities Group, and is the List of United Kingdom cities by population British city after London, with a population of 1,010,200 ....
, England is the home of Birmingham City Council. It provides office

Office

An office is generally a room or other area in which people employment, but may also denote a position within an organization with specific duties attached to it ; the latter is in fact an earlier usage, office as place originally referring to the location of one's duty....
accommodation for both employed council officers, including the Chief Executive, and elected council members

Councillor

A councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council. Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman....
, plus the council chamber, Lord Mayor's Suite, committee rooms and a large and ornate banqueting suite, complete with minstrels' gallery

Minstrels' gallery

A minstrels' gallery is a form of balcony, often inside the great hall of a castle or manor house, and used to allow musicians to perform, sometimes discreetly hidden from the guests below....
.

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Birmingham City Council House in Birmingham

Birmingham

Office

Councillor

Minstrels' gallery

A minstrels' gallery is a form of balcony, often inside the great hall of a castle or manor house, and used to allow musicians to perform, sometimes discreetly hidden from the guests below....
. The first-floor's exterior balcony

Balcony

Balcony , a kind of platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or Corbel brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade. The traditional Malta balcony is a wooden closed balcony projecting from a wall....
is used by visiting dignitaries and victorious sports teams, to address crowds assembled below.

It is located in Victoria Square

Victoria Square, Birmingham

Victoria Square is a pedestrianised Town square in Birmingham, England. It is home to both the Birmingham Town Hall and the Council House, Birmingham....
in the city centre and is a Grade II* listed building

Listed building

A listed building in the United Kingdom is a building or other structure officially designated as being of special architectural, historical or cultural significance....
. (Birmingham Town Hall

Birmingham Town Hall

Birmingham Town Hall is a listed building concert and meeting venue in Victoria Square, Birmingham, Birmingham, England. It was created as a home for the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival established in 1784, the purpose of which was to raise funds for the General Hospital, after St Philip's Cathedral, Birmingham became too small to hold t...
is a separate building, built and used as a concert venue, and is of greater architectural

Architecture

The term architecture can refer to a process, a profession or documentation.As a process, architecture is the activity of designing and construction buildings and other physical structures by a person or a computer, primarily to provide shelter....
significance, being listed Grade I.) The Council House has its own postcode, B1 1BB

B postcode area

The B postcode area, also known as the Birmingham postcode area, provides UK postcodes for the boroughs of Birmingham, Metropolitan Borough of Solihull and Sandwell and parts of Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Staffordshire in England....
.

The side of the building, which faces Chamberlain Square

Chamberlain Square

Chamberlain Square or Chamberlain Place is a Town square in central Birmingham, England , named after Joseph Chamberlain.Its features include:...
, is the entrance and façade of the Museum and Art Gallery which is partly housed within the same building.

The open space which is now Victoria Square

Victoria Square, Birmingham

Victoria Square is a pedestrianised Town square in Birmingham, England. It is home to both the Birmingham Town Hall and the Council House, Birmingham....
(containing a water feature and steps) was once occupied by Christ Church (built 1805-13, demolished 1899 to be replaced by shops and offices - the Christ Church Buildings, themselves demolished 1970).

History

Planning

The land on which the Council House and adjacent Museum and Art Gallery are located was purchased in 1853. This land consisted of Ann Street which was home to properties such as the "Cabinet of Curiosities", a clothes shop advertised as "An exhibition for the curious observer of natural phenomena". The building had a clock tower

Clock tower

A clock tower is a tower built with one or more clock Clock face. The clock tower is usually part of a church or municipal building such as a town hall, but many clock towers are free-standing....
topped with a flagpole. The top was castellated

Crenellation

Crenellation is the name for the distinctive pattern that frames the tops of the walls of many medieval castles, often called battlements. Crenellation most commonly takes the form of multiple, regular, rectangular spaces cut out of the top of the wall to allow defenders spaces to shoot arrows from and other spaces to hide behind full c...
and the walls were whitewashed and adorned in advertisements and messages. The last tenants of the building were the Suffield family, ancestors of J. R. R. Tolkien

J. R. R. Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, Order of the British Empire was an English people English literature, poetry, Philology, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion....
.

The land was earmarked for development however constant financial difficulties put all development on hold till 1871 when the council finally agreed to build offices on the site. A design competition was established and the council received 29 entries, which was disappointing in comparison to the 179 entries Sheffield

Sheffield

Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom and metropolitan borough in South Yorkshire, England. It is so named because of its origins in a field on the River Sheaf that runs through the city....
received. However a decision was delayed by further financial difficulties. The council was then split over the Gothic entry by Martin & Chamberlain

Martin & Chamberlain

John Henry Chamberlain, William Martin , and Frederick Martin were architects in Victorian Birmingham, England. Their names are attributed singly or pairs to many Architectural terracotta buildings, particularly 41 of the forty-odd Birmingham board schools made necessary by the Elementary Education Act 1870....
and the classical entry by Yeoville Thomason

Yeoville Thomason

H. R. Yeoville Thomason was an architect in Birmingham, England. He was born in Edinburgh to a Birmingham family. Thomason set up his own practice in Birmingham 1853-1854....
.

Construction and extensions

Thomason's design was chosen however amendments to the art gallery entrance and clock tower were made. The clock and tower are known locally as, "Big Brum

Big Brum

Big Brum is the local name for the clock tower on the Council House, Birmingham, England. The clock tower is sufficiently important in the public consciousness of Birmingham people that it has a name....
". Construction commenced on the building in 1874 when the first stone was laid by the then mayor Joseph Chamberlain

Joseph Chamberlain

Joseph Chamberlain was an influential British businessman, politician, and statesman.In his early years Chamberlain was a radically minded Liberal Party member, a campaigner for educational reform, and President of the Board of Trade....
. The building was completed in 1879 and cost £163,000. A debate was held to decide upon the name of the building with the options being The Municipal Hall, Council House or Guildhall.

The Council House was extended almost immediately, 1881-1885. The architect was again Yeoville Thomason. This was a combined Art Gallery (and included a museum) and the home of the corporation's Gas Department whose budget subsidised the building as legislation limited the expenditure of ratepayers' taxes on the arts.

Above the main entrance, which faces Victoria Square, is a mosaic

Mosaic

Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other material. It may be a technique of Decorative arts, an aspect of interior decoration or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral....
by Salviati Burke and Co.

Salviati (glassmakers)

A family called Salviati were glass makers and mosaicists in Murano, Venice and also in London, working as the firm Salviati, Jesuram & Co. of 213 Regent Street, London; also as Salviati and Co....
of Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy, the capital city of the Italian regions Veneto, a population of 271,251 . Together with Padua, Italy, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area ....
. Above that, the pediment

Pediment

A pediment is a classical architecture element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns....
shows Britannia

Britannia

Britannia was the term originally used by the Roman Empire to refer to the island of Great Britain. The term was later used to describe a Roman province covering much of the island, apart from the area beyond the Antonine Wall belonging to the Picts in the north, which was known as Caledonia....
receiving the manufacturers of Birmingham. The carved decoration on the entablature

Entablature

An entablature refers to the superstructure of moldings and bands which lie horizontally above columns, resting on their capital . Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and are commonly divided into the architrave—the supporting member carried from column to column, pier or wall immediately above; the frieze&md...
includes green men

Green Man

A Green Man is a sculpture, drawing, or other representation of a face surrounded by or made from leaf. Branches or vines may sprout from the nose, mouth, nostrils or other parts of the face and these shoots may bear flowers or fruit....
.

On 9 August 1902, The Council House, along with the Town Hall, was illuminated in celebration of the coronation of King Edward VII

Edward VII of the United Kingdom

Edward VII was Monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death on 6 May 1910....
.

The Council House was extended a second time 1911-1919 (architects Ashley & Newman) by the building of a new block to the north and connected to it by an intricately designed archway (internally a corridor). The archway or bridge resembles slightly the The Bridge of Sighs in Venice

Venice

Memorials

Many memorials are housed within the Council House. Most are not available for viewing by the public except upon request. Memorials within the Council House are:

To the citizens of Birmingham from the Belgian Exiles during World War I
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
.
To the staff of the Board of Guardians who died and served in World War I.
To Captain Ronald Wilkinson who died trying to defuse an IRA
Provisional Irish Republican Army

The Provisional Irish Republican Army , is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that considers itself a direct continuation of the Irish Republican Army that fought in the Irish War of Independence....
bomb in Edgbaston
Edgbaston

Edgbaston is an area in the city of Birmingham in England. It is also a Government of Birmingham, England#Districts, managed by its own district committee....
on 17 September 1973.
To the staff of the City Treasurers who served in World War I and to the City Treasurers who served in World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
.
To the staff of the Electric Supply Department who died during World War I.
To the staff of the Public Works & Town Planning Department Memorial who died in both world wars.
To the staff of the Veterinary Department who died during World War I.
To John Skirrow Wright
John Skirrow Wright

John Skirrow Wright was one of the prominent pioneers and social improvers of the 19th century in Birmingham, England. He was involved in many aspects of Birmingham's Victorian era life that were for the benefit of its citizens including the Birmingham General Hospital, the Chamber of Commerce, The Birmingham School of Art, the Birmingham...
, who died in the building.
A Blue Plaque commemorating the five consecutive generations of the Martineau Family who served as (Lord) Mayors

In popular culture

The foyer featured in the Cliff Richard

Cliff Richard

Sir Cliff Richard Order of the British Empire is an England singer-songwriter, actor and entrepreneur.With his backing group The Shadows, Richard dominated the British popular music scene in the late 1950s and early 1960s, before and during The Beatles' first year in the charts....
film Take Me High
Take Me High

Take Me High is a 1973 in film England feature film, directed by David Askey, written by Christopher Penfold and starring Cliff Richard, with Deborah Watling, Hugh Griffith, George Cole and Anthony Andrews....
, made to appear as a hotel lobby.