CIVIC PRIDE AND CLASSICISM IN

NINETEENTH CENTURY BIRMINGHAM:

ARCHITECTURE AND IDEOLOGY,
BUILDINGS AND BELIEFS, STYLE AND
SOCIETY

Module: 26194
Student: 1189080
Word length: 11,648
Dissertation submitted as part of the degree in
Archaeology and Ancient History at
The University of Birmingham
Department of Classics, Ancient History and Archaeology
2013/14

ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... vi
I. THE TOWN HALL 'Architecture and Ideology' ................................................... 1
BIRMINGHAM IN THE EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY .......................................... 1
Manufacturing and Industry ..........................................................................................1
Pre-existing architecture and urban expansion ..................................................................2
ARCHITECTURAL BACKGROUND .......................................................................... 3
British architecture in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries ................................3
The return of Rome.......................................................................................................4
The architectural competition .........................................................................................5
POLITICAL REFORM AND ROMAN SYMBOLISM ..................................................... 9
Thomas Attwood and the Birmingham Political Union.....................................................9
Roman symbolism ......................................................................................................12
Conclusions ...............................................................................................................15
II. THE BIRMINGHAM AND MIDLAND INSTITUTE AND PUBLIC
LIBRARY 'Buildings and Beliefs'.............................................................................. 18
THE MID-NINETEENTH CENTURY: PLANNING AND BUILDING AN INSTITUTE ... 18
Industry and Infrastructure ..........................................................................................18
Forming an Institute ...................................................................................................19
The architecture of E. M. Barry...................................................................................21
CIVIC GOSPEL ....................................................................................................... 24
Nonconformity............................................................................................................24
Education ..................................................................................................................25
CLASSICAL EDUCATION, BELIEF AND HEALTHY CITIZENSHIP ............................ 27
Classical or Gothic? ....................................................................................................27
Institutionalising the Classics.......................................................................................32
Conclusions ...............................................................................................................34
III. THE COUNCIL HOUSE AND MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY 'Style and
Society'....................................................................................................................... 37
BIRMINGHAM IN THE LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY .......................................... 37
Boulevards, gas and water ...........................................................................................38
Chamberlain the Imperialist.........................................................................................39
PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION ......................................................................... 40
The architectural competition .......................................................................................40

iii
Museum and Art Gallery extension ...............................................................................42
MUNICIPAL DREAMS AND ROMAN DECADENCE ................................................. 42
Rome art, archaeology and grandeur...........................................................................42
Conclusions ...............................................................................................................47
CONCLUSION........................................................................................................ 48
BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................... 50
GLOSSARY OF TERMS ........................................................................................ 53

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 Map of 1884 showing the study area, monuments of interest are highlighted
in green. (http://digimap.edina.ac.uk, accessed and edited 2014 by Oliver Kenzie) vii!
Figure 2 Birmingham Town Hall as it is today, viewed from Paradise Forum.
(Photograph: http://www.flickr.com/photos/veryveryquiet/)..................................... x!
Figure 3 Plaster cast model of John Nashs Marble Arch, c.1826. (Photograph:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nashvanda.jpg) .......................................................5!
Figure 4 Charles Barrys Doric temple design for the Town Hall (c. 1831). (Peers
2012:Fig. 62.) ....................................................................................................................6!
Figure 5 John Fallows quasi-Baroque design entry for the Birmingham Town Hall
(Peers fig. 53) .....................................................................................................................7!
Figure 6 Thomas Rickmans Ionic Greek Revival Design entry for the Town Hall
(Peers fig. 57) .....................................................................................................................7!
Figure 7 Detail of the Corinthian columns on Birmingham Town Hall. (Photograph: O.
Kenzie)...............................................................................................................................8!
Figure 8 Gathering of the Unions (c. 1834) drawn by Henry Harris. Hundreds of
thousands of people attended demonstrations on New Hall Hill, by far the largest of
their kind in the country. (http://theironroom.wordpress.com/2011/11/) ..............11!
Figure 9 The Friend of the People (1832) drawing of Thomas Attwood by W.
Green and published by Josiah Allen. (Peers 2012:13) ................................................13!
Figure 10 Statue of Thomas Attwood reclining on the steps outside the Town Hall.
(Photograph: Oliver Kenzie)..........................................................................................15!
Figure 11 Interior of the Town Hall with the University of Birmingham Philharmonic
Orchestra and Chorus. (Photograph: Derek Choo). ....................................................16!
Figure 12 Post card of Birmingham Town Hall dating from c. 1901. (thsh.co.uk)......16!
Figure 13 The beautiful reading room at the Birmingham Public Library as
redesigned by J. H. Chamberlain (c. 1881) (Photograph: Geoff Thompson (c. 1971)
(http://www.photobydjnorton.com/Library/VictorianLibrary.html).......................17!
Figure 14 Barrys technical drawing for The Birmingham & Midland Institute (c.
1855) (www.http://picturegallery.imeche.org/)...........................................................20!
Figure 15 The opening of central Library (c.1865) from the Illustrated London news.
(www.birmingham.gov.uk) .............................................................................................22!
Figure 16 The Institutes Classical frontage survived the fire of 1879 but not the
bulldozer in the 1960s, photographed here in c. 1964.
(http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4080/4920683728_5fc16be15c_o.jpg)......................23!
Figure 17 Joseph Chamberlain photographed when serving as Colonies Secretary, (c.
1895) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chamberlain2.jpg) ....................................25!
Figure 18 Photograph of devastating fire of 1879.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e6/Brimingham_Central_Library_fi
re_jan1879.jpg) ...............................................................................................................27!
Figure 19 Another view of Chamberlain and Martins Reference Library.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g393/astoness/BirminghamCentralLibrary
2.jpg) ................................................................................................................................28!

v
Figure 20 The Mason Science College and Chamberlain Memorial viewed from
Chamberlain Place (c.1892)
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/cadburyresearchlibrary/7254698122/)..................29!
Figure 21 Architectural drawing of Cossins Ratcliffe Place Science College frontage,
(c.1875)
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/cadburyresearchlibrary/9191634937/in/set72157634457316297/)...................................................................................................31!
Figure 22 Floor plan of Chamberlain and Martins reworked Birmingham and
Midland Institute and Public Library. (Holyoak p. 165)..............................................31!
Figure 23 View of the Reading room from one of two additional side rooms. The
vaulted ceiling and rounded double arches are shown in good view.
(http://www.photobydjnorton.com/Library/VictorianLibrary.html).......................34!
Figure 24 The Council House main entrance in 2014. (Photograph: Oliver Kenzie) 36!
Figure 25 The Ann Street elevation plan of Thomasons Council House (or municipal
buildings), (c. 1871) (Shackley Fig. 1)............................................................................41!
Figure 26 The entrance to the Museum and Art Gallery as viewed in 2014.
(Photograph: Oliver Kenzie)..........................................................................................43!
Figure 27 The Triumph of Titus, Laurence Alma Tademam 1885.
(http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/tadema/paintings/26.html) ......................44!
Figure 28 Salviatis mosaic with the figures of Science, Art, Liberty, Law, Commerce,
Industry and Municipality. (http://municipaldreams.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/)
.........................................................................................................................................45!
Figure 29 Pedimental sculpture on the Birmingham Council House.
(http://municipaldreams.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/birmingham-council-housepediment-victorian-web-i1.jpg)......................................................................................46!
Figure 30 A sketch of Chamberlain Place as it may have looked in the late 19th
century, (2014). (Sketch: Oliver Kenzie) .......................................................................49!
Figure 31 Victoria Square as it is today, (http://visitbirmingham.com/files/2012-0311/VictoriaSquare.jpg) ..................................................................................................49!
Figure 32 A Birdseye view over civic heart of Birmingham drawn in 1886.
(http://municipaldreams.wordpress.com/category/town-hall/)................................57!

vi

INTRODUCTION
In this dissertation, I will be tracing the development of civic
architecture in central Birmingham during the 19th century. The area in
discussion roughly speaking extends from Congreve Street at one end to New
Street at the other, containing two squares, Chamberlain Square and Victoria
Square. In a broad sense I wish to determine three things, firstly, to highlight
the unique nature of political and social activity in nineteenth century
Birmingham. Secondly, to demonstrate that public architecture is capable of
becoming a symbol for its politics and ideology. Thirdly, to reveal the
importance of Classicism, why it was chosen as the style for Birminghams
most important public buildings and to make the connection between
architecture and ideology, buildings and belief and between style and society.
These three aspects will be discussed in the context of three major public
buildings, which neatly appear chronologically in the development of the
town throughout the century.

They are, the Town Hall (1832), the

Birmingham and Midland Institute and Public Library (1865) and the
Council House and Museum and Art Gallery (1885).
As Holyoak writes, representation of political ideology through
architectural form is a tricky matter.1 However, in Birmingham I believe it is
possible to do so because of the individuality of its social make-up and the
vitality of political and social reform. Vivacity in politics and ideology brought
about huge changes not just for the town but had implications on a national
scale. As Asa Briggs wrote in his History of Birmingham (1952),
The history of nineteenth century Birmingham is so closely bound up with
the history of England as a whole, that a local history of the city is an
essential chapter in the history of the nation.2

Birmingham has had a special say in English history during the Victorian
Age, to quote Briggs again, When all possible generalisations have been
made the history of Birmingham remains distinctive and unique and

1
2

Holyoak 2009:154
Briggs 1952:1

vii
cannot be contained in any set of categories.3 The core of the argument rests
in the choice of Classical idioms over others. It is one thing to say that
Classical styles dominate the architectural idiom in the town centre but it is
another to show there is a link between classicism and political and social
ideology

and

to

understand

how

or

why

this

link

was

made.

Figure 1 Map of 1884 showing the study area, monuments of interest are highlighted
in green. (http://digimap.edina.ac.uk, accessed and edited 2014 by Oliver Kenzie)

In many ways this dissertation explores Victorian attitudes towards Ancient

Greece and Rome. More over my objective is to discuss the evidence which
suggests how these attitudes were appropriated to Birminghams public
architecture.
Defining classicism itself is incredibly difficult. Of all the styles, it has
been without doubt the most persistent in the last three hundred years. It
appears in different forms and contexts, from the ornate Baroque styles
popular in eighteenth century Italy, to the stark simplicity of the Greek
Revival in British architecture in the early nineteenth century. During the
study period, classicism is in no way particular to Birmingham architecturally
speaking. There is nothing to say that a similar study could not be conducted
for say Manchester or Liverpool. However, I think it is important to realise
that with a specific political and social background comes a specific
architecture. Too often public buildings are discussed only briefly in books on
Architectural History, with sweeping summaries that tend to class all such
projects under the same banner. More often than not, individual buildings are
singled out to act as parts in an overview, which discuss Victorian civic
architecture in general. I would argue that any space should be discussed on
3

Briggs 1958:1

viii
the basis of its own merits and with individuality, the development of
Birmingham as a town during the study period was different to that of any
other city or town in the country.
I believe it is no coincidence that it is during periods of intense
political and social movement that also saw the construction of Birminghams
most important and spectacular civic monuments. The provision of public
spaces is inextricably linked with the political and social fortunes of the town.
The towns greatest achievements were realised through the creation of her
greatest monuments. Birmingham has a fascinating history, one that left its
mark on not just the region but on the nation as a whole. It produced great
men and great things; Matthew Boulton perhaps the greatest English
industrialist was born, lived and died in Birmingham. It was at the
Birmingham, Soho foundry where he and his Scottish business partner James
Watt manufactured there famous steam engines.4 Or how about John
Baskerville, the renowned Birmingham printer, whose typeface you are
reading right now. So today, we can tell the story of Birmingham by telling
the story of her monuments. Architecturally speaking this story is a classical
one. As stated, classicism is somewhat hard to define. It transforms from the
stark archaeological representations of the early nineteenth century, to the
ornate and fluid Italianate or French renaissance by the end of it. Nonetheless,
classical architecture still dominates Birminghams central squares.5
To understand the symbolism behind this classicism we must first
understand both the political and social background as well as the
architectural background. Once understood, links can be made between the
two. Thus each chapter will commence with introductory discussions on both
historical and architectural background before exploration of the use of
classical architecture. The Town Hall was arguably the first building of its
kind in the country and certainly in the town so our story will begin with that
project before going on to discuss the other buildings in the following two
chapters. In summary, an exploration of civic pride can be made in my
opinion by review of the civic architecture built at the time. The beliefs of its

4
5

Peers 2012:2
Salmon 2002:151

ix
people are translated in to the buildings, its society represented by its style and
its ideology is realised through its architecture. As Jonathan Meades surmises,
And when it comes to public buildings Birmingham showed Britain the way:
it was a virtual city-state which invented the notion of civic pride and
provided its people with schools and libraries and technical schools and a
university college6

Meades 2012:106

Figure 2 Birmingham Town Hall as it is today, viewed from Paradise Forum. (Photograph: http://www.flickr.com/photos/veryveryquiet/)

I
THE TOWN HALL
Architecture and Ideology
The years surrounding the construction of the Town Hall saw
Birmingham expand faster than it did in any other period. Between 1821 and
1831 the population of Birmingham grew by forty percent, the largest growth
in the Towns history.7 The Birmingham Political Union was to take centre
stage in national politics in a key moment in the history of both town and
nation for which the Town Hall would become the zeitgeist. This chapter
discusses the historical and architectural background to the Town Hall, and
deals with the connection between its architecture and the ideology of Rome.
Architectural genius can reside in capturing the spirit of a people as well as
it can in individual performance.8
Frank Salmon

Birmingham in the early nineteenth century

Manufacturing and Industry
At the turn of the nineteenth century Birmingham was witnessing
rapid growth in its manufacturing economy. The lack of a navigable
waterway restricted production to light goods that were easily transportable.9
The arrival of the canals, the first of which opened in 1768, allowed for faster,
cheaper and more reliable trade to wider markets.10 Birminghams industry
was dominated by the production of these lighter goods or small wares and
also production of them to an incredibly high standard. When we think of
Birmingham in the early nineteenth century we should think less of huge
factories with large numbers of workmen under their employ, but instead of
small workshops employing as few as ten or twenty highly skilled craftsmen.
Birminghams working-class operated often on first-name terms with their

Peers 2012:4
Salmon, as quoted in Peers 2012:vii
9 Leather 2002:20
10 Turnbull 1987:544
7
8

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masters.11 In addition, Birmingham was unique in the variety of trades it
produced, from pen nibs to guns and jewellery to buttons. There were
disadvantages, Birmingham simply did not ascertain the same level of capital
as cities like Manchester or Liverpool and there was not one businessman who
could compare himself in wealth to the owner of one of Manchesters large
factories.12 The home workshops which had been established in the
nineteenth century, led to cramped working and living conditions as well as
contributing to a comparatively poorer appearance of the town.
Pre-existing architecture and urban expansion
Most of the central streets consisted of a jumble of homes, workshops
and manufactories. The town did possess some fine Georgian buildings and
numerous churches but some distance separated them all. Any obligations
undertaken as to improve the town were made by the Board of Street
Commissioners often referred to as simply the Street Commissioners.13 There
were understandably a number of calls for the provision of a large space for
public use. As things stood, large-scale public meetings could only take place
outside or in unsuitable and mundane buildings. Another important factor
was the towns pride in the popular Triennial Music Festival. The reputation
of the festival was in danger of being out done by similar events at Liverpool
and York. Thousands could cram in to York minster. Birminghams St Philips
was minuscule in comparison.14 The major benefactor of architectural
additions at the beginning of the century was not the Streets Commissioners
but the Church. The Greek revival style St. Thomass, Bath Row and St.
Peters, Dale End, both also designed in Rickman and Hutchinsons office,
were consecrated in the 1820s.15 There was also Christs Church, which until
its demolition in 1899 stood on the eastern edge of the study area. Classicism
was at this time predominant, more over, Greek styles dominated.

Briggs 1952:6.
Peers 2012:8
13 Dent 1894:133-4
14 Peers 2012:20
15 Leather 2002:85
11
12

Architectural background
British architecture in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries
In eighteenth century Europe, the ornate baroque style dominated and
in Britain a more simplistic style, Palladianism, had developed. The source of
inspiration for both styles was Rome, if not Italianate styles in general. Full
imitation of the baroque was never taken up in Britain, most likely for the
reasons Jenkyns describes that it was essentially incorrect for any Englishman
to copy foreigners so directly, adopting Palladianism as a national style.16
Palladianism had its roots in Italy, Palladio whose architecture it was named
after was in any case himself Italian but it was adopted across Britain as a
more decent version of the baroque.17 In the eighteenth century almost every
renowned British architect went to study in Rome at some point in his career.
The majority did so at the beginning, before they had achieved employment
at an architects office, such was the importance of a full understanding of
Italian architecture, primarily the study of antiquities.18 Often architects
accompanied the Grand Tourists, young aristocrats who travelled across
France and Italy as an essential part of their intellectual upbringing.
By the late eighteenth century, huge changes in taste were developing
manifesting in the rejection of the Baroque. In France as early as the 1750s
Marc-Antoinne Laugier, perhaps the first philosopher of architecture openly
attacked the baroque, his criticism like many others after him being that
architecture should be inherently simple, functional and be in accordance
with the laws of nature.19 It was Greece, which would provide the inspiration
for the new movement. For much of the eighteenth century it had been off
the path of the Grand Tourists, the acropolis was still a garrison and the
Parthenon a mosque. However, the rediscovery of Greece namely by James
Athenian Stuart and Nicholas Revett, who travelled there in the 1750s and
produced their highly influential study the Antiquities of Athens, would prove
highly influential. This came hand in hand with an increasing archaeological
tendency in British architecture. Particularly plans and drawings of the
Jenkyns 1991:41
Turner 1981:2
18 Salmon 2000:2
19 Jenkyns 1991:47-8
16
17

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buildings of antiquity were now no longer accepted unless they were wholly
accurate. The artistic licence of the baroque both in planning and execution
were thrown out. The symmetry and austerity of Greek architecture reflected
these tendencies perfectly. More over, it was seen as the predecessor to Rome,
in other words to refer back to Laugiers words, architecture was getting back
to nature or to its roots.
Throughout the first twenty years of the 1800s the Greek revival
dominated architecture in Britain. In Birmingham, we have seen out of the
office of Rickman and Hutchinson particularly, that Greek styles were the
most popular. However, by the late 1820s the style was dying out.. The
veteran John Soane said in reference to antiquity, ideas should be extracted
from it rather than imitated it.20
The return of Rome
The end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 allowed for a great change
in the way antiquities and monuments were approached and also for a
restructuring of the organisations which carried out this work. Of particular
note was the Instituto di Corrispondenza Archaeologica, which was founded
in 1829. Under French rule in the early 1800s, French archaeologists and
researchers dominated such organisations. However, after the defeat of
France, the British section of the Instituto had 27 members in its inaugural
year and this had increased to 71 by 1836, in comparison to 34 German and
48 French members.21 Most importantly the Institutos influence was wide
reaching, its publications the Annali and the Bullettino provided the most upto-date information on the archaeology of antiquity. As explained above,
architects continued to strive for archaeological accuracy. The relatively new
printing technique of lithography allowed for the production of highly
detailed images of forms and styles for architects to circulate. Notably
influential in this field were George Ledwell Taylor and Edward Cressy, who
published their Architectural Antiquities of Rome (1822).22

Salmon 2002:138
Salmon 2002:60
22 Salmon 2002:70
20
21

5
Renewed attention was paid not only archaeologically but also
architecturally to Rome. Roman imitation had been popular in Napoleonic
France; understandable ideologies of republicanism were at work. The Arc du
Carroussel is a direct imitation of the Arch of Constantine in the forum.23 By
1827, Roman styles had made their way to Britain. John Nashs Marble Arch
(fig. 3) of 1827 was built with exactly the same Roman monument in mind,
the Arch of Constantine. Although the precedent was French, the inspiration
was Roman. The Quarterly Review stated in its 1835 review of An Historical Essay
on Architecture, that the Greek Revival could no longer serve as the leading style
for public architecture in Britain and urged architects to look towards Rome,
he ought to know that he has at his command resources, drawing from
old Roman magnificence far greater than Greece can furnish.24

It is within this context of renewed energy and interest in Rome that the
design competition for the Birmingham Town Hall was conducted.
Figure 3 Plaster cast model of
John Nashs Marble Arch,
c.1826. (Photograph:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fil
e:Nashvanda.jpg)

The architectural competition

By 2 May 1831, the Commissioners had worked down to three
winners of the architectural competition, which had originally attracted over
23
24

Salmon 2002:149
The Quarterly Review, 1835, as quoted in Salmon 2002:140

6
seventy entries. Yorkshire based architects Joseph Aloysius Hansom and
Edward Welch received the first premium (prize). Edward Fallows designs
were awarded second place whilst Rickman and Hutchinson of Birmingham
received the third premium.25 Another popular entry was Charles Barrys
design, which had proven a favourite amongst many of the townspeople.
What is important is to realise that all four of these entries (including Barrys
design), were all Classical suggesting that it was a Classical monument that
was thought to be most fitting for Birmingham. In addition, not one of the
designs were of the same idiom.
Charles Barrys design was a Greek design, as literal statement of a
Greek temple it is possible to imagine in a modern context.26 It was a stark
and strict imitation of the Doric Hephaisteion (Theseion) in the Athenian
agora (fig. 4). Furthermore, to highlight the nature of variety in Classical
idioms at this time, it seems Barry experimented with other orders of
architecture. Drawings survive of prospective Tuscan and Italianate alternatives
as well as a double-depth Corinthian portico version.

Figure 4 Charles Barrys Doric temple design for the Town Hall (c. 1831). (Peers
2012:Fig. 62.)

John Fallows offered something entirely different. His sumptuous

quasi-Baroque design had hexastyle (six column) Corinthian porticoes stretching
out over a Tuscan base (fig. 5). The central hall was cornered by pilastered and
richly decorated pavilions. More similar to Barrys entry was Thomas
Rickmans Greek Revival piece which had hexastyle Ionic porticoes (fig. 6). The
25
26

Peers 2012:51
Salmon 2002:161

7
different characters of these designs indicate that as Salmon states, within the
overall formal language of Classicism, this was a time when no one specific
idiom was dominant in public architecture.27

Figure 5 John Fallows quasi-Baroque design entry for the Birmingham Town Hall
(Peers fig. 53)

Figure 6 Thomas Rickmans Ionic Greek Revival Design entry for the Town Hall
(Peers fig. 57)

27

Salmon 2002:157

As we know, it was a Roman design by Hansom and Welch which was

awarded the first premium. From the beginning both men had looked to, and
stated, Rome for inspiration and specifically to the Temple of Castor and
Pollux in the Roman Forum.28

Figure 7 Detail of the Corinthian columns on Birmingham Town Hall. (Photograph: O.

Kenzie)

Neither architect was known to have visited Rome, which shows the extent to
which archaeologically accurate drawings of antiquity had improved. The two
architects most likely used the lithographs produced by the aforementioned
Taylor and Cresy.
It is clear that Classicism was the route Birmingham wished to take,
and with the Town Hall it was a specifically Roman one. As written in the
28

Salmon 2002:158

9
Birmingham Journal at the time, architectural adornment begin[s] to stamp the
very name of Birmingham with an enlightened and classical character.29 As
Peers summarises nicely,
What better than to have at the heart of this proud, progressive,
economically

and

physically

burgeoning

but

as

yet

politically

unrepresented town a great classical temple of a building to bring to mind

the edifying accomplishments of Rome, impress visitors and above all inspire
the population a keen sense of civic pride?30

In other words, there to conjure up the spirit of the Town was this Roman
temple, an expression of the towns political ambitions and ideology through
it architecture.

Political reform and Roman symbolism

Thomas Attwood and the Birmingham Political Union
Birmingham had grown in the period of industrialisation to become
the largest town in the region. However, just the two county members for
Warwickshire as a whole represented the Town in Westminster. Two
members each served smaller boroughs in the region such as Tamworth. It
was a system of representation that had essentially stayed the same since the
Middle Ages. Tensions surrounding the question of reform intensified after
the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Government made heavy spending cutbacks,
which contributed to the onset of an economic downturn. This of course
caused problems for businessmen and distress for working people.
The premier political figure in Birmingham was Thomas Attwood, a
local banker.31 At the time he was the leading figure in the Birmingham
School of Economists, and in the face of depression, developed new economic
ideas. None of Attwoods theories received much attention by government,
forcing his hand politically, realising that only a reformed parliament spared
of the monopoly of corrupt aristocratic landowners could bring the result he
wanted. In 1830, Attwood gathered support for a new Union and outlined his
Birmingham Journal, 18 Jan 1834, as quoted in Peers 2012:78
Peers 2012:78
31 Salmon 2000:163.
29
30

10
political goals. Abolition of property qualifications for MPs and payment of
MPs to allow ordinary people to become MPs and, most importantly, the
vote for all men who contributed to local or national taxation, either directly
or indirectly.32 The Birmingham Political Union (BPU) was now established.
Furthermore, the radical MP Sir Francis Burdett had stressed the
vitality of incorporation of both working and middle class members.33 34 As we
have discovered, if any Town was to prove successful in unifying business and
working men it surely would be Birmingham. In parliament, The Whig, Sir
Charles Grey, more widely known as Earl Grey, was commending the efforts
of Political Unions across the country.35 Opposing reform was the Tory,
Arthur Wellesley the Duke of Wellington. Having won the election of
September 1830, the Duke of Wellington, in his speech at the opening of the
1830 Parliamentary session stated,
He [The Duke of Wellington] was fully convinced that the Legislature and
the system of representation possessed the full and entire confidence of the
country.36

In 1831 the Lords threw out the Second Reform Bill, sparking riots
across the country. The Birmingham Political Union remained peaceful in its
methods, holding a meeting on New Hall Hill. The push for reform was
stepped up again in the following year.37 On 7 May Attwood organised
another mass meeting on New Hall Hill. This time the demonstrations
reached an unprecedented scale. Contemporary figures placed the number in
attendance at around 200,000 modern estimates suggest the number was
half this. These were by far the largest of such gatherings in the country. The
event was immortalised in Henry Harris lithograph (fig. 8). The ensuing
period became known as the days of May. Despite the best efforts of the
Union their demands had failed and Grey resigned. Three days later,

UK Parliament 2011
Wakefield 1885:131
34 UK Parliament 2011
35 Wakefield 1885:131
36 HL Deb (3rd Series) 2 November 1830 Vol. 1 cc11-53
37 Salmon 2000:163
32
33

11
Thomas Attwood having retired to his Harborne home, awaited his fate after
the Duke had prepared warrant for his arrest. His son wrote at the time,
A party of villagers had taken alarm and expected that my father would be
arrested that night; they had accordingly come down with firearms to line
the hedges and drive back the expected soldiers or police, whoever they
might be.38

If this story is to be taken as accurate it proves a quite remarkable indication

of how cherished Attwood was, as well as the immanency of his arrest.

Figure 8 Gathering of the Unions (c. 1834) drawn by Henry Harris. Hundreds of
thousands of people attended demonstrations on New Hall Hill, by far the largest of
their kind in the country. (http://theironroom.wordpress.com/2011/11/)

As it happened, the news broke that the Duke of Wellington had been unable
to form a government, Grey was reinstated and the Reform Act received
Royal Assent on 7 June.39 Attwood was invited to London to attend a banquet
at Mansion House. On his return to Birmingham, admirers at almost every
junction along the way received him. His reception in Birmingham was
magnificent. Accompanied by marching bands and the Warwickshire
regiment, his carriage processed through the main streets of the town, which
38
39

Wakefield 1885:195
Salmon 2000:162

12
were lined with thousands of supporters. Once on New Street, Attwoods
carriage was unable to reach the Bull Ring because so many had turned out
in support, representative of scenes not too dissimilar to a Roman triumph.
It was this contribution to political reform that had become not just an
achievement for Attwood personally, who was by then something of a local
hero, but also as an achievement for the Town. How fitting then that whilst
Attwoods carriage was struggling to process down New Street towards the
Bull Ring, behind him construction was about to start on Birminghams
Roman temple. Whether it had been intended or not, the coinciding events of
reformist ideology and Roman architectural influence had contributed to a
huge sense of public satisfaction.
Roman symbolism
Thomas Attwood drew inspiration from many areas of personal study
and interest. His grammar school education would have undoubtedly meant
he was well versed in the Latin and Greek classics and was familiar with the
heroes of Ancient Rome. When it came to history Attwoods favourite subject
was Rome and his greatest idol, Marcus Aurelius.40 Aurelius was, as according
to the term coined by Niccolo Machiavelli, the last of the five good
emperors. Machiavelli writing in the sixteenth century stated, he will also
learn from this lesson of history how good a government can be organised.41
Through good leadership, these emperors had gained the respect of the
public; they had no need for praetorian corhorts, or of countless legions to
guard them.42 Attwood would have doubtless been familiar with these
arguments. His respect extended beyond the worship of great Romans but to
a general admiration of those in support of good and reasonable government.
After all, he was an economist and businessman. He had argued for economic
changes, which would promote business and create jobs.
Attwood is important in the context of Birmingham. He had become
the figurehead of the achievements of political unions across the country. Yet,
attitudes towards Rome were complex, they were Christian and Pagan,

Moss 1990:22
Machiavelli Discourse on Livy 1.x.
42 Machiavelli Discourse on Livy 1.x.
40
41

13
Imperialist and Republican and had precedents in Napoleonic France.43
However, it was a sense of intangibility which was the draw in the early
nineteenth century. Connections were not made in the context of the more
tangible Christian context for example but in reference to Romes legendary
heroes. As discussed, a large number of British grand-tourists returned to the
city of Rome after victory over France. Although archaeological activity had
increased, Edwards suggests that for most British travellers to Rome, the
romance of the place had not yet disappeared from mind. Experiencing
Romes ruins did not prompt images of the millions who had occupied the
city in between the periods of ancient and modern but of a handful of wellknown individuals, the heroes of ancient Rome.44
Figure 9 The Friend of the
People (1832) drawing of
Thomas Attwood by W. Green
and published by Josiah Allen.
(Peers 2012:13)

Above all other things, the Victorians were hero worshippers.45 It was the
Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau whose political ideologies had
gone on to inspire French revolutionaries. His favourite classical work,
Plutarchs Lives of Noble Greeks and Romans, was in his view a different kind of
novel, one that displayed history as the actions of a series of heroes.46
Rousseaus relentless analysis of Plutarchs work had apparently allowed him
Edwards 1996:13
Edwards 1996:10
45 Jenkyns 1992:15
46 Damrosch 2005:16
43
44

14
to, live, so to speak, with these great men.47 Rome amongst many things was
a revolutionary subject, at the least a republican one. The idea that Rome was
used symbolically solely by those fanatical about Empire and keen on control
is in reality a bit of a myth. It is credit to the persistence of the Classics that
the Victorians could essentially spin the Classical story anyway they so
wished. Whilst, Greece would have provided the imagination for a building
created perhaps just five years earlier, here was a different time, when
reformist ideology had swept the country. It was out with the old guard and in
with the new, doing what was right for the people of Town and nation. It was
Livy who had told of the fasces being passed to the noble Lucius Junius Brutus
after expelling the tyrannical King Tarquinius Superbus from Rome in the
sixth century BC. A drawing by W. Green (fig. 9), published by Josiah Allen in
1832 depicts Attwood as the friend of the people. The dove of peace rests
upon a banner reading reform atop a wreath; a clear classical connotation.
In addition, below is the bundle of rods bound in ribbon the Roman fasces, a
symbol of strength through unity and magisterial power, the same as was
passed to Brutus.48 Not only were these fasces drawn but in fact made and
carried for the procession of Attwood through the streets of Birmingham on
his triumphal return from London in 1832.49 When the commissioners picked
the Roman design in 1831, the Union was already well established and as the
town was thrust in to the political limelight so too was its Roman symbolism.
Thus the Town Hall, originally architecturally innovative, by the time of its
construction had been hoisted high and proudly along with the banners of the
reformists to the tune of regional pride and the symbolism of republican
Rome.50 There was something Roman quite about the Birmingham
Reformers according to Benjamin Robert Haydon.
They are high in feeling Roman quite and will be immortal in their great
struggle51
B. R. Haydon, 19 June 1832
Goldhill 2011:3
Peers 2012:13
49 Salmon 2002:166
50 Foster 2005:8
51 Salmon 2002:166
47
48

15
Conclusions
Nothing could have been more suitable for Birminghams political ideology
than the architecture of Rome. The Town was unique in the variety, type and
quality of its manufactured goods and the societal structure that resulted.
With the political success of Attwood and consequently the Towns success
came a great pride, one which was realised through the creation of the
magnificent Town Hall. There was no other hall like it in the country,
specifically designed for the use of concerts and it was also the first of a
number of buildings that, as Salmon sets out, saw ancient Roman inspired
architecture return to the architectural scene, albeit briefly.52 Subsequently
the connection was made between the Towns achievements, its pride and its
brand new building, between the architecture and ideology. As the
commissioners wrote in 1837,
By completing the Hall they shall act in accordance with that increasing
pride and satisfaction with which the inhabitants as well as strangers view
this noble Building, and render it worthy the correct taste of the age, and the
public spirit of the Town.53
Figure 10 Statue of
Thomas Attwood
reclining on the steps
outside the Town
Hall. (Photograph:
Oliver Kenzie)

52
53

Salmon 2002:20
Salmon 2002:166

16

Figure 11 Interior of the Town Hall with the University of Birmingham Philharmonic
Orchestra and Chorus. (Photograph: Derek Choo).
(In view is the world famous pipe organ originally installed in 1834 by William Hill
and Sons. It has gone through many alterations and renovations, having at one time
a whopping 90 stops. Mendelssohn was so impressed that he wrote his epic oratorio
Elijah for the Birmingham Triennial Festival of 1846.)

Figure 12 Post card of Birmingham Town Hall dating from c. 1901. (thsh.co.uk)

17

Figure 13 The beautiful reading room at the Birmingham Public Library as redesigned by J. H. Chamberlain (c. 1881) (Photograph: Geoff
Thompson (c. 1971) (http://www.photobydjnorton.com/Library/VictorianLibrary.html)

18

II
THE BIRMINGHAM AND MIDLAND
INSTITUTE AND PUBLIC LIBRARY
Buildings and Beliefs
This chapter discusses the first major public building in Birmingham
since the Town Hall, The Birmingham and Midland Institute (BMI) and the
Public Library. It was fully opened in 1865. The building came to completion
in many stages, hampered both by bankruptcy and then by fire in 1879.
However, by the time the building was rebuilt again in 1881, Birmingham
had emerged with an immensely strong sense of both public pride and selfbelief. It witnessed through fortune or fortitude an agglomeration of
outspoken and politically active men, who shared a powerful belief in the
nonconformist church but also in the power of civicism and local government.
This was a time of romanticism, of public provision, of spreading the gospel,
of buildings and beliefs.

The mid-nineteenth century: Planning and building an Institute

Industry and Infrastructure
As discussed earlier in chapter one, some special features set
Birmingham aside from other large towns. Firstly were the dominance of
industry and the wide range of trades and occupations, secondly the close
relations (both economic and social) that existed between the classes. In the
intervening years, not much of this situation changed. In fact, it was to remain
a feature of Birminghams social make-up for many years to come.54 This was
important, as Briggs eloquently puts it, Birminghams men were not divided
by the tall walls of social privilege.55 However, as little changes occurred to
the industrial and social structure of Birmingham so too did this have little
impact on its visual appearance. Many still lived and worked under the same
roof. The Town Hall for example was surrounded by winding streets
complete with nooks and crannies and lined with small dwellings with
54
55

Briggs 1952:4
Briggs 1952:4

19
accompanying workshops and tiny factories. One major force for change was
the introduction of the railways. Whilst population was still increasing the
railways allowed for faster and cheaper travel thus opening up the possibility
of new suburban developments.56 Moreover, space for tracks, stations,
junctions and depots was needed and so, the railway companies cleared many
old and insanitary buildings away to make space. On the other hand many
central

districts

retained

their

overwhelmingly

poor

appearance.

Birminghams central square was a far cry from the civic centre it would
become, in fact it was hardly a square at all. J. T. Bruce wrote,
So poor and neglected was the whole of this central district that Birmingham
people, jealous of the credit of their town, were ashamed to show it to visitors
as the heart of Birmingham.57

Forming an Institute
One potentially decisive step was that the transference of such matters
from the Streets Commissioners to the Birmingham Corporation and the
establishment of the Council. An act of 1851 was passed for the Council to
implement improvements and soon after purchased land to the north of the
Town Hall with in the intention of constructing a building where
administrative departments could be concentrated in one place.58 As it,
happened the site lay empty for over twenty years. One of the reasons for this
and failure to provide similar public improvements rested in the wasted
potential of more powerful local government. The leadership of the newly
reformed Council lay in the hands of Economy party leader Joseph Allday.
Political competitors were rubbished as extravagant and Allday was
primarily concerned with not parting with any large sums of public money,
whatsoever. The town was neglected politically and socially and its streets and
architecture hardly faired any better.59 Birmingham was tarnished with a
reputation of being uncultured.60 The town severely lacked any sort of public
institution that provided its citizens access to the higher and finer arts.
Briggs 1952:19
Briggs 1952:17
58 Briggs 1952:18
59 Hunt 2004:240
60 Rodrick 2004:92
56
57

20
Additionally, no private party ever stepped forward convincingly to take on
any such project. As Anne Rodrick states, residents tended to enthusiastically
subscribe to initial fundraising drives but notoriously failed to open their
purses.61
Birmingham in particular it was argued was in huge requirement of an
institution, which allowed for artistic education that went beyond utilitarian
design and production.62 The towns industries were focussed on production
of small articles that were increasingly ornamental, so continued success
became more dependent on artisans with an eye for taste as well as possessing
the necessary technical skills. It was in this context that a new institute, the
Birmingham and Midland Institute was proposed. It would provide a
platform for public lectures, attracting speakers from across the country. In
1854, the BMI was formally founded by an Act of Parliament, whereby its
duties were outlined for, the diffusion and advancement of science, literature
and art amongst all classes of persons resident in Birmingham and Midland
counties.63

Figure 14 Barrys technical drawing for The Birmingham & Midland Institute (c.
1855) (www.http://picturegallery.imeche.org/)

Rodrick 2004:92
Rodrick 2004:90
63 Birmingham City Council 2009
61
62

21
A new building was also required, which could provide a large space for
conferences, to house a gallery for the Royal Society, a museum and a space
for the education of willing citizens.64
However, the BMI received little to no support from the local
authorities, for example, the Free Libraries Act was passed in Westminster in
1850 but it was not applied in Birmingham for another decade. Arthur
Ryland was perhaps the foremost member of the BMI committee, petitioned
the Prime Minister Lord John Russell for the commons to allow funds to be
levied for the institute.65 Anxiety around the town was growing, that
essentially Birmingham was missing a trick in not cultivating a new generation
of artisans, familiar with the finer arts and without an educated and cultured
citizenship. The greatest fear was that the Town would lose its industrial
edge.66 The attention of the furore reached new levels in 1855, Prince Albert
chose Birmingham as the site for the delivery of an address on the Importance of
Education. Finally, the council bowed to public pressures, a site just West of the
Town Hall was offered up. The subsequent rise of the institute coincided with
the gradual attrition of Alldays Economy party. Arthur Ryland succeeded to
the Mayorship of Birmingham in 1860, the same year that the first half of the
BMI was opened.
The architecture of E. M. Barry
In 1855 Edward Middleton Barry was awarded the opportunity to
design the new institute. He was the third son of the famous Charles Barry,
who himself some years earlier had submitted designs for the Town Hall.
Edward Barry planned a building to house a library, museum, teaching rooms
and lecture theatre all behind a continuous classical faade (fig. 16). He was
methodical, and his style had a keen sense of proportion, ultimately suited to
Classicism as opposed to the more picturesque Gothic, which was fast becoming
the favourite for a new generation of architects.67 Where Classicism persisted,
it did so in a freer and more decadent fashion, drawing greater influences
from Italianate and French Renaissance styles. Barrys frontage, whilst being
Rodrick 2004:92
Rodrcik 2004:93
66 Hunt 2004:232
67 Burnet 2004:1
64
65

22
handsome in its own right was presumably favoured because, whilst being
nowhere near as severe, it adopted a Corinthian order similar to that of the
neighbouring Town Hall. Barrys faade was to stretch from Paradise Street
to Edmund Street. The perspective from Paradise Street would have been
impressive with the Corinthian columns of both the BMI and the Town Hall
creating a colonnade extending away from view.68
Barry had been commissioned in 1855 but by 1860 only half of his
plan was completed. Luckily, the Free Libraries Act had been pushed through
the council in the same year, and ironically it was the Council, who had
originally blocked plans for such a project, negotiated for the purchase of the
remaining land and completion of the building.69 On 6 September 1865, the
Central Library opened along with an accompanying Art Gallery.

Figure 15 The opening of central Library (c.1865) from the Illustrated London news.
(www.birmingham.gov.uk)

68
69

Clawley 2013:15
Holyoak 2009:162

23

Figure 16 The Institutes Classical frontage survived the fire of 1879 but not the
bulldozer in the 1960s, photographed here in c. 1964.
(http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4080/4920683728_5fc16be15c_o.jpg)

The intervening years between the completion of the Town Hall and
the opening of the BMI and Public Library had been troublesome and
regressive. Birmingham had departed somewhat from the collective spirit that
had been seen in the years surrounding the construction of the Town Hall.
Something of a new direction was needed, that transcended local differences.
It had also become clear that success depended on appealing to the collective
needs and pride of the region. For Allday, local government was a set of jobs
and nothing more. Idealism was expensive and the less spent by the Council
the better.70 This new regional approach was reflected in the name of the new
institute, the Birmingham and Midland Institute. However, its conception and
continued success relied on the ability of the Town to sing the same mantra.
There was a need for a unifying force, a concurrent belief and it was the
nonconformist Church leaders who led the way, creating Birminghams civicgospel.

70

Briggs 1965:210

24

Civic Gospel
Nonconformity
As discussed above Birmingham thrived because of various special
features, however, the town profited from another, which has hitherto not
been considered. Nonconformity as a term refers to protestant Christians who
did not conform to the governance and usages of the established Church of
England. Even in the early days of urban expansion nonconformity was well
supported in Birmingham, by 1800 there were seventeen nonconformist
meetinghouses.71 Birmingham, by the time of the coronation of Queen
Victoria in 1838 had become a stronghold of dissent, dissent in this context
referring to dissenters, another term for breakaways from the Church of
England. Particularly strong were the Unitarians and the Quakers.
Birminghams most influential families, notably the Chamberlains, the
Kenricks and the Martineaus were all Unitarian as well as the Cadburys
being Quakers. Similarly nearly every mayor between 1840 and 1880 was a
Unitarian.
It

was

the

nonconformist

Reverend

George

Dawson

who

ceremoniously opened the new library and institute in 1865, giving a speech
to a huge crowd in front of Barrys classical frontage.72 The opening of the
new public space was hailed as the amount to a new era in Birmingham civic
life, stating the building was an, expression of a conviction on your part that a
town like this exists for moral and intellectual purposes.73 Alldays council and
their contempt for municipal activism was reflected in the appearance of the
town and its monuments or lack of them. The leading voice for improvements
to be made came first from the Church, most notably George Dawson.74
Dawson was tired of the formal teachings of the Church; he was above all
else, a romantic man. A Baptist he drew great inspiration from the radical
teachings of Unitarian, James Martineau. Dawsons doctrine was based
Peers 2012:9
Hunt 2004:232
73 Hunt 2004:232
74 Hunt 2004:241
71
72

25
loosely on the works of German romanticists Geothe and Schiller. He
imagined civicism as a collective organism, securing a good life for all
citizens. Dawson believed that Birmingham was not just the random
amalgamation of businessmen that Allday alleged. Great orators like Dawson
were encouraging a new understanding of civic life, where all would share the
greatest joys of intellectual and artistic life. What this meant in reality was a
completely new approach to the philosophy and functions of municipal
government the civic gospel. Amongst the crowd that day, when Dawson
spoke at the opening of the Public Library and Midland Institute, was a young
businessman, Joseph Chamberlain (fig. 17).
Figure 17 Joseph Chamberlain
photographed when serving
as Colonies Secretary, (c.
1895)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
/File:Chamberlain2.jpg)

Education
The Birmingham and Midland Institute was incredibly successful;
from the early days of instruction in 1857 the number of students had more or
less tripled, going from just under six hundred to over fifteen hundred. The
institute was living up to its doctrine of providing education for those of an

26
industrial occupation.75 However, the institutes establishment and success was
part of a greater ideal, of promoting self-belief and self-help as well as an
educated and healthy citizenship.
Joseph Chamberlain came to Birmingham as an eighteen year old in
1854.76 He was a businessman in the part owned family screw manufacturers.
Before coming to Birmingham, at the Unitarian church where he worshipped,
Chamberlain encouraged a program of self-improvement amongst the
workforce with reading evenings, French classes, a debating club and benefit
club. After arrival in the Midlands, Chamberlain became a parishioner at the
towns premier congregation, the Church of the Messiah where he found
himself in familiarly earnest upper-middle class surroundings with the elite of
Birminghams nonconformist community.77 Although involved in Liberal
politics throughout the majority of the 1860s, the Unitarian Church Vestry
Committee and support of important educational bodies such as the debating
society dominated Chamberlains local activity.78 It was in the late 1860s
when Chamberlain made a name for himself politically. In 1866 the Liberal
politician George Dixon succeeded the mayorhsip of the Town. He was
councillor for Edgbaston, and became MP for Birmingham in 1867. He was
also an Anglican but one who successfully transcended local differences and
was accepted by all groups. Dixon, had founded the Birmingham Education
League in 1867. Two years later, this developed in to the National Education
League, incorporating branches from across England and Wales. Dixon was
the chairman of Leagues council and Chamberlain elected the chairman of
the Executive committee. The League proposed compulsory non-sectarian
education for all, free of the influence of churches of any denomination and
argued for such with the same vigour and energy as they had applied to
Sunday School Work and nonconformist activity within their respective
denominations. Dixon and Chamberlain resolved a bill and presented it to
Parliament.79 The Elementary Education Act was passed in 1870.80

Holyoak 2009:99
Briggs 1965:191
77 Hunt 2004:236
78 Briggs 1965:191
79 Briggs 1952:70
80 UK Parliament 2010
75
76

27
The Education League was perhaps more important on a local level
than it was nationally. It stirred the town politically, in a way that had not
been seen since the time of Attwood and the Political Union. Particularly in
the context of the towns recent history, it had remained stagnant under the
control of Allday and the Economy party.81 These other leading founding
members included unsurprisingly the already well-known George Dawson,
but also, important in the context of the BMI, the architect John Henry
Chamberlain.

Figure 18 Photograph of devastating fire of 1879.

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e6/Brimingham_Central_Library_fi
re_jan1879.jpg)

Classical education, belief and healthy citizenship

Classical or Gothic?
As mentioned above, one of the Education Leagues founding
members was John Henry Chamberlain (no relation to Joseph Chamberlain),
a local architect. The library at the BMI had proved so popular in its first
years that in the 1870s the council decided to extend the building. J. H.
Chamberlain was chosen to implement the extension. Chamberlain worked in
81

Briggs 1965:191

28
office with his partner William Martin and they were both keen enthusiasts
for Gothic architecture.82 Unsurprisingly, their extension paid scanty regard
to the adjoining Classical faade. In 1879, as work commenced, a careless
workman started a fire and the blaze destroyed much of Barrys original
building. Although many of the books in the lending library survived, the
entirety of the reference library catalogue was destroyed. Barrys Classical
faade on the other hand, although badly damaged, was still in tact. The
Council, the Institute and both Chamberlain and Martin must have
considered a complete remodel of the building; so much of it was destroyed, it
might well have provided an exciting opportunity for the architects. Holyoak
argues that the red-brick and terracotta Gothic that dominated Chamberlain
and Martins language became defacto the expression of the Liberal
revolution in municipal management; the brand of the Civic Gospel.83

Figure 19 Another view of Chamberlain and Martins Reference Library.

(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g393/astoness/BirminghamCentralLibrary
2.jpg)

82
83

Holyoak 2009:154
Holyoak 2009:155

29
Holyoak also says, it is hard to construct a convincing argument in support of
this.84 The style of Martin and Chamberlain is, in the history of the Gothic
revival rather old-fashioned certainly at any rate, responsive.85 It could be
argued that the reason they have been attributed to the being the edicts of the
style of the Civic Gospel was because they played an active role in political
Liberalism themselves, as we have seen J. H. Chamberlain was involved with
the Education League. However, the library was not built anew to Gothic
designs but reconstructed in keeping with the original Classical design.
Furthermore the most important municipal building in Birmingham, the
Council House, to be discussed in the next chapter, would not be Gothic but
of Yeoville Thomasons Classicism. On the other, hand as well as being
attributed to the Public Library and Institute, Chamberlain and Martin are
also responsible for the design of another of the monuments in Birminghams
central squares, the Chamberlain Memorial (fig. 20). The memorial is
outwardly Gothic and it could be argued that this supports the argument for
this style being the seal of Liberal reform and civic gospel. Chamberlain after
all had become the figurehead of the Birmingham gospel.

Figure 20 The Mason Science College and Chamberlain Memorial viewed from
Chamberlain Place (c.1892)
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/cadburyresearchlibrary/7254698122/)

84
85

Holyoak 2009:155
Holyoak 2009:154

30
However, I would argue, that the precedent set by the countrys greatest
memorial, the Albert Memorial, in London, defines the Chamberlain
memorial more than it says for the choice of the Gothic as a style more
appropriate to represent Chamberlain or the civic gospel. In other words,
Gothicism wasnt chosen for the memorial but decided for it especially
considering Martin and Chamberlains responsive methods. If you were to
catch a glimpse of both, one would be forgiven for concluding that
Chamberlains memorial is a miniature version of its London predecessor,
which opened eight years earlier. In addition, the Liberal headquarters in
Birmingham, which sat just off Chamberlain Square, was also designed in the
Gothic style and so it could be said that the memorial was in a sense a
reference to that building by way of a Liberal connection. Gothicism was in
no way exclusively a Liberal style and visa versa. One of the most influential
factors contributing to the revival of Classical ideas, in particular Greek
thought, was the emergence of Liberal democracy in the eighteenth century.
As Turner states, there can be no doubt that the revolutionary experience
roused on an unprecedented scale the intensive examination of Ancient Greek
democracy.86 By the end of the century another Gothic building had joined
the Chamberlain memorial, the Mason Science College (figs. 20 & 21).
Founded by Josiah Mason in 1875, the huge Gothic building designed by
local architect Jethro Cossins opened in 1880. The answer to the question as
to why this building was Gothic is in reality, straightforward. Masons college
was exclusively a science college. The eminent scientist, Thomas Henry
Huxley Darwins bulldog delivered the opening speech on 1 October. In
his speech, Huxley considered the opening of the college as a victory for
scientific cause and supported Mason's antagonistic views on the classics and
theology.
After having learnt all that Greek, Roman, and Eastern antiquity have
thought and said it is not self evident that we have laid a sufficiently broad
and deep foundation for the criticism of life which constitutes culture.87

86
87

Turner 1981:3
Halsall 1998

31
Mason would never have chosen a Classical design for his Scientific College,
when he firmly believed that the classics unfairly dominated English
intellectual life. I believe the opposite effect was had in the construction and
subsequent reconstruction of the Birmingham and Midland Institute and
Public Library.

Figure 21 Architectural drawing of Cossins Ratcliffe Place Science College frontage,

(c.1875)
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/cadburyresearchlibrary/9191634937/in/set72157634457316297/)

Figure 22 Floor plan of Chamberlain and Martins reworked Birmingham and

Midland Institute and Public Library. (Holyoak p. 165)

32
Institutionalising the Classics
Joseph Chamberlain entered the Town Council in 1870 and had
talked of creating a great street, as broad as a Parisian boulevard.88 However,
improved appearance and spaces meant more to Chamberlain and his
contemporaries than just a heightened sense of grandeur. Aesthetics was one
element, but the health of the town depended upon the experience it gave to
those who lived within it. Provision of grander streets and buildings was in the
view of this new wave of Civics inextricably linked with happiness, success and
fortitude.
It seems to me that education must be a perfect farce when the instruction at
the school is contradicted by the experience of the home. It seems to me
absurd to preach morality to people who are herded together in conditions,
in which common decency is impossible.89

These were Chamberlains own words. Whilst it was clear that much work
was needed to fix, the squalid living conditions of Birminghams working
families in a practical sense, it was just as important for the approach to be of
the mind and philosophy, to improve education and self-belief. The
Birmingham and Midland Institute was a monument to such for it both
promoted education and also in its architecture, aesthetic improvement. In
other words it had the effect of killing two birds with one stone.
Meanwhile, the Classics had become common ground for educated
men. It had become a self-defining mark of social and political standing. In an
era when self-help and motivation was being encouraged in Birmingham, any
educated citizen was required to have an understanding of both Greek and
Roman literature. A structured Classical education had worked its way in to
Victorian life. Large state organisations such as the Home Civil Service and
Royal Military Academy afforded advantage to applicants with a knowledge
of Greek and Latin. The Clarendon Report of 1864, claimed that the average
public school spent eleven of its twenty weekly lessons on Classics, compared
to just two on Sciences.90 If we return to the Albert Memorial in London, that

Briggs 1952:19
Hennock 1975:140
90 Goldhill 2011:2
88
89

33
great monument to British majesty, we will see a case in point about the
standing of Classics in Victorian society. The monument itself is of course
Gothic. However, close examination of the decorative frieze bears for
interesting study. Sculpted in profile are the great advocators of all intellectual
fields. In music, British composers are placed in a nationalistic bias ahead of
more successful foreign counterparts. However, in the field of literature and
poetry, a field in which Britain perhaps held its greatest fame, the central
position is not held by Shakespeare or Chaucer as expected, but by Homer. It
is an astonishing homage to the influence of the Classics over the Victorian
imagination.91
The most relevant discourse was that of the Classics and what better a
statement of Birminghams intent to supplement the town with a high level of
intellect and artistic understanding than to provide a Classical building. On
the contrary to Masons Science College, the Birmingham and Midland
Institute was to provide lectures in all things but its emphasis was on
introducing artisans to the finer arts, increasing their taste in things artistic
and beautiful. In this case, a Classical building is far more suitable. Another
point of note is that Masons Science College was for all intents and purposes
a Private institution. The buildings which performed a Civic role, ones which
were fully public and there to enhance the mind of every citizen, were
Classical. As discussed, the BMI and Library was not remodelled to Gothic
designs but its Classical language was upheld. Whats more, although
Chamberlain and Martin were Gothic Revivalists through and through, their
reworked interior paid considerable deference to the Classical exterior.92
Through Barrys original central portico one was greeted by a long staircase,
lit by windows in a semicircular apse at the far end. A second, wide and roomy
staircase curved around inside this apse opening out in to the large reference
library at a turn of ninety degrees. One was greeted by huge vaulted ceilings
and an apsed nave, separated by two huge round arches and supported by neoGrec capitals. The effect was dazzling and one reminiscent of Roman baths,
basilica or a Romanesque Cathedral.93
Jenkyns 1992:5
Holyoak 2009:164
93 Holyoak 2009:166
91
92

34

Figure 23 View of the Reading room from one of two additional side rooms. The
vaulted ceiling and rounded double arches are shown in good view.
(http://www.photobydjnorton.com/Library/VictorianLibrary.html)

What one was doing in the Library was reading, and what one should be
reading was placed around in architectural form, the works of Greece and
Rome.
Conclusions
The civic-gospel spearheaded by the nonconformists had led
Birmingham out of years of regression and stagnancy. They had appealed to
the pride of the town and region in a complete remodelling in the way local
government was perceived and carried out. They had done it under the
guidance of their own civic philosophy and belief. The Birmingham and
Midland Institute and Public Library, was their first achievement. Not only
had they changed the governance of the town but the prospects for its
citizens. Education was promoted, healthier and cleaner living and an
informed lifestyle were all advocated. The grandeur of Chamberlain and
Martins library provided the right setting both practically and philosophically
for their gospel to be put in to action. The vital link was that between their
civic beliefs and the provision of public buildings, buildings and beliefs.
Central still was, Birminghams manufacturers and the vitality of their artistic
skill and craft. It was as if education and the finer arts were there to promote

35
the industry and skill of citizens, which introduces the next chapter, style and
society. As the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery was opened, the
foundation stone was laid with an inscription reading, by the gains of
Industry, we promote art. As for the gospel, it had already played its hand.
Chamberlain and other influential men of his generation were entrenched in
its philosophy and it was for them now to take it on. Chamberlain left business
and entered politics; his reward was the mayorship, and his task to continue
the work of the civic gospel, of belief and building. In twelve months by
Gods help the town shall not know itself.94

94

Hunt 2004:249

36

Figure 24 The Council House main entrance in 2014. (Photograph: Oliver Kenzie)

37

III
THE COUNCIL HOUSE AND MUSEUM AND
ART GALLERY
Style and Society
This chapter is concerned with Birminghams largest civic monument,
the Council House and adjoining Museum and Art Gallery. If the
Birmingham and Midland Institute and the Public Library had proved the
zeitgeist of the Civic Gospel in terms of self-belief and education, the Council
House would be its symbol of stateliness and reformed government. The last
years of the nineteenth century saw Birmingham, Chamberlain and other
leading figures complete the transformation of the town in to a virtual citystate, which provided for its citizens on all levels and governed them from a
complete belief in local authority. It was in this period, when Birmingham
really rejuvenated itself to self-confident excellence, the period when
Birmingham turned on the style so to speak.

Birmingham in the late nineteenth century

The Town Council

George Dawson and other nonconformist leaders had spelt out

Birminghams civic gospel. As we have seen, Chamberlain and other
politically minded young businessmen were attracted by the rewards of such
work and beliefs, contributing to education reform. Dawson himself had said,
There is no nobler spherethan to take part in municipal work, to the wise
conduct of which they owe the welfare, the health, the comfort, and the lives
of 400,000 people.95

It is this that attracted Chamberlain and those like-minded to Council, an

opportunity for influence and power. With Chamberlain came whole
regiments of leading businessmen who were enthused by the civic gospel and
excited about the opportunity of exercising genuine influence and authority.96

95
96

Hunt 2004:248
Hunt 2004:248

38
Now Birminghams most fashionable, successful and famous men were
pouring in to the Council, and appearance on it became the mark of social
stylishness par excellence. The Times implied, perhaps no such capable and
enterprising men have ever met together on an English public board.97 It was
the classic in agglomeration economics, where influential men and businesses
cluster together in one place, they have the effect of rubbing off on each other.
There was also an element of right place at the right time. Reform Acts of
1867 and 1869 had widened the electorate to almost quadruple the size,
particularly the inclusion of large numbers of working classes, whose votes
counted but rates essentially were not directly accounted for municipal
improvements or spending. The financial strains rested in the, as Hunt puts it,
petit bourgeois ratepayers.98
Boulevards, gas and water
Chamberlains daily walk from his Edgbaston home to his offices on
Broad Street saw him pass an austere industrial landscape with, downtrodden
housing and insanitary thoroughfares. It was clear even with Dawsons gospel
in place that faith and reverence were not enough to improve the streets of
the town, this needed to come from the council direct. As Chamberlain saw
it,
What folly it is to talk about the moral and intellectual elevation of the
masses when the conditions of life are such as to render elevation
impossible!99

Chamberlain was just seventeen when he first visited Paris, and although
Birmingham with its artisan communities along its long stretches of canal had
been more readily likened to Venice, Chamberlain was an advocate of a
Parisian feel to contemporary Birmingham. Chamberlain as mayor secured
the 1876 Improvement Act and the so-called 1875 Artisans Dwellings Act.100
His Parisian Boulevard was to be Corporation Street and still is to some
extent, the most noticeable of all Chamberlains improvements. Somewhat
Hunt 2004:247
Hunt 2004:249
99 Hunt 2004:258
100 Hunt 2004:258
97
98

39
more unnoticed was the provision of Gas and Water. Chamberlain
masterminded the municipalisation of gas during his period as mayor between
1873 and 1876. He insisted that such monopolies should be in the hands of
elected representatives and that such a control would increase the councils
power, being a firm believer in local government. Chamberlain used his
business acumen to great effect in the municipalisation of gas ensuring that
the project was profitable and in the long term would free up money to be
spent on other civic projects.101 By 1880, when Chamberlain stepped down
from the chairmanship of the Gas Committee, the profits of Birmingham
Corporation Gas had risen to 57,000.102 When it came to water,
Chamberlain departed from more economic reasons to express need for a
water department for sanitary ones. The main source of supply up until then
was the Birmingham Water Works Company, a private company that did not
supply the entirety of the city 150,000 people still depended on wells.103
Whilst Chamberlain was content on Corporation Gas making a profit, he was
adamant that Water should be provided at the lowest possible rate.
Chamberlain the Imperialist
In the first half of the nineteenth century Birmingham had been
heavily reliant on a steady supply of raw materials from the Black Country.
However, Birmingham had become the social and commercial hub of activity
across the region, the outlook for the Black Country looked somewhat
bleaker. Whilst, the variety of trades in Birmingham and the skill of its
craftsmen could be in some way adaptable to economic fortune, the Black
Country industries were reliant almost solely on the production of iron. By the
end of the boom of the 1870s steel production was starting to take-over as the
most sought after, material. Whats more the real capital, in other words the
materials themselves were wearing thin in the Black Country by this stage.
The breakdown of industries in the Black Country only increased the
relevance of commercial capital for the region, which could in some way
sustain economic application. The immediate impact was that the

Briggs 1952:72
Briggs 1952:73
103 Briggs 1952:75
101
102

40
Birmingham finishing trades had to look elsewhere for their supplies of crude
steel and this came mainly from the North and North Wales. The basic
industries owed their survival not to the proximity of local materials but the
continued demand for their trade. The economic bust of the late 1870s was a
cause of huge concern for businessmen and politicians alike. For
Chamberlain, it was a point of great distress and started to propose ideas on
Tariff Reform to turn the fortunes of British material providers. New steel had
taken prominence in Germany and in the United States and both had
outstripped Britain in terms of production figures. Chamberlain proposed the
introduction of a protective tariff to give colonies preferential treatment in the
British market. Originally, Chamberlain was opposed to protectionism but by
the 1880s had u-turned and was an advocate of some form of Imperial trade
organisation. It was a political character of Joseph Chamberlains stature that
the movement was in desperate need of. Chamberlain was, first a reformer,
then a services provider now the great imperialist. It was the energy and the
spirit which were most important. Chamberlain set the standard. Even before
he changed his gospel songs from local to imperial themes, he conceived of
the building of a city as an objective as adventurous and noble as the building
of an empire.104

Planning and construction

The architectural competition
When Chamberlain was elected to the council in 1869 the site of the
Council House had been lying empty for over a decade since its purchase in
1853. A competition to design municipal buildings was announced in
February 1871.105 Unfortunately only the designs of the winner, H. R. Y.
Yeoville Thomason survive from the 29 entrants to the competition.106 We do
know that by 18 March the designs had been collected and that seventeen
were in the Gothic style, eleven of a Classical style and one in a renaissance
style. Alfred Waterhouse, the architect of Manchesters Gothic Town Hall,
had been chosen to judge the competition and examined the plans between
Briggs 1952:87
Shackley 2009:132
106 Shackley 2009:133
104
105

41
20 and 22 March, each identified by a motto or sign. Of the designs, Maltese
Cross a Gothic design won the first premium, Perseverentes, the renaissance
submission was awarded second and Forum another Gothic design achieved
third. The Maltese Cross design was chosen by Waterhouse. However, the
council, in a remarkable reversal decided to ignore Waterhouses decision and
chose Perseverentes as the winner. Alderman Osborne declared the Maltese Cross
design as the worst in the series and that the council was just as capable as
making the decision as Waterhouse was.107

Figure 25 The Ann Street elevation plan of Thomasons Council House (or municipal
buildings), (c. 1871) (Shackley Fig. 1)

As it happened then, Yeoville Thomason was the winner of the

competition with his Perseverentes and met with commissioners soon after to
discuss alterations and improvements to the elevation. The old line of
Colmore Row and Ann Street was straightened as to give a better view of the
Town Hall and open up an impressive view of Corinthian columns,
Thomasons giant order a much praised feature of his design. Thomason
worked in his favourite Italianate/French renaissance style that harmonised
classical features with freedom and adornment. In front of Thomasons
sixteen-foot portico rose a central arch, which was to house the mosaic of

107

Shackley 2009:134

42
Italian, Salviati. Corinthian pilasters supporting a large sculpted pediment
flanked this.
Museum and Art Gallery extension
The assize courts originally planned for the municipal buildings
project had been left until the main office building was completed. On review,
the council decided that the original site was now too small for such a function
and that an Art Gallery would be placed there in its place. There was no
competition this time and Thomason was recalled to sketch plans for three
galleries.108 The provision of the galleries was a cause for concern; many
worried about its disadvantageous position behind the already erected
Council House. However Thomason designed quite brilliantly a grand
entrance in a relatively small space designated between the finishing wall of
the Council House and Edmund Street. The junction of Edmund Street and
Ann Street was crowned with a magnificent Renaissance clock tower,
affectionately known today as Big Brum. Next to this adjoining the Council
House was another giant Corinthian portico with another sculpted pediment.
Thomasons Art Gallery is in many ways was more successful than that of the
Council House. The portico expresses his Classical ideas in magnificent
proportion and stateliness whilst the Renaissance flare is saved for the
adjoining clock tower making the composition far easier on the eye.109

Municipal dreams and Roman decadence

Rome art, archaeology and grandeur
As we have seen Rome, was the symbol of Napoleonic France but also
had the appeal of the authenticity in a Christian past. By the middle of the
century, both architecturally and ideologically British attitudes were
incredibly complex. Republicanism, reform, Christianity and Paganism had
all been thrown in to the melting pot. However, as the century drew on and
travel to Rome became more widespread, accounts became less romantic and
picturesque, more accurate. Advances in archaeology had continued
throughout the century.
108
109

Shackley 2009:136
Shackley 2009:137

43

Figure 26 The entrance to the Museum and Art Gallery as viewed in 2014. (Photograph: Oliver Kenzie)

44
Ruins were tidied up in a series of ongoing excavations, which intensified after
the unification of Italy in 1870. The British archaeological tendency steered
attitudes away from those of the romantic ruin, the noble savage and
wondering pagan towards a more sympathetic approach that saw Rome rehumanised. Italian travel by the middle of the nineteenth century was
becoming far less socially exclusive. One aristocrat remarked that the city of
Rome had become overrun with ignorant tourists.110
Figure 27 The Triumph of
Titus, Laurence Alma
Tademam 1885.
(http://www.victorianweb.or
g/painting/tadema/painting
s/26.html)

Images of Rome had lost their social exclusivity. However, once Rome was
re-peopled it opened the door for it to be used in a wider range of contexts
that had not been explored before. Furthermore, Rome was no longer simply
the domain of aristocrats and grand tourists but of a wider section of society.
Serious scholars began writing texts on dress and eating habits, previously
dismissed as silly trivia and inconsequential to intellectual understanding. One
of the contexts in which Rome could clearly be explored, or exploited,

110

Liversidge 1996:20

45
depending on ones pessimism about Victorian Britain, was Empire. Charles
Mercivales, eight volume History of Romans under Empire, published in 1850, was
essentially nothing more than a great list of comparisons and contrasts
between Roman and British rule.111 J. C. Bruce wrote, the sceptre which
Rome relinquished, we have taken up. Rome did lack the intellectual
glamour of Greece. However, this in many ways made it more accepting, its
relevance on the higher intellect was irrelevant. Romes character was one of
luxury and decadence and through the recently tapped world of people and
commerce. When John Murray wrote his handbook for travellers in Central
Italy, he remarked how exaggerated everything seemed. The Corinthian
order was generous and luxurious.112 Decadence had its origins in the material
remains of Ancient Rome.113 The Victorians by the middle of the century had
wound up with the concept that luxury bred commerce. As discovered with
the Civic Gospel and in particularly the opening of the BMI and Public
Library, a citizens education was necessary for his understanding of luxury
goods.

Figure 28 Salviatis mosaic with the figures of Science, Art, Liberty, Law, Commerce,
Industry and Municipality. (http://municipaldreams.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/)

Liversidge 1996:24
Theones 2002:16
113 Liversidge 1996:21
111
112

46
Chamberlain firmly believed in monumentalising Birmingham, breeding an
ethos, which would stimulate the commerce and all things good about the
town. Rome was as Liversidge puts it, a world of delicate luxuries. One only
has to look at the luxurious materialism of Laurence Alma Tademas
painting of the Triumph of Titus, painstakingly correct in every facet, from
robes to architecture. Similar, Walter Paters description of Marcus Aurelius
has seductive descriptions of the material details of the pagans. Interestingly
enough, half a century earlier, Attwood was triumphant through Birmingham
in much the same manner, and his hero, Marcus Aurelius. The features in
the architecture provide the evidence for this luxurious materialism. The
mosaic of the Venetian Salviati is amongst the most striking of the decorative
features (fig. 28). It portrays six figures, Science, Art, Liberty, Law, Commerce
and Industry. Tellingly, they are placed around a central, enthroned figure,
which represents Municipality. Within the pediment above is a set of large
sculptures (fig. 29). These show Britannia receiving the manufacturers of
Birmingham, rewarding them with wreaths of laurel.114 In the mosaic, the
magisterial might of municipal dream and wonder rewards its people in all
facets of intellectual life. In the pediment, luxuries are awarded to the
hardworking men of Birmingham, materialism rears luxury, municipality
brings reward, and society promotes style.

Figure 29 Pedimental sculpture on the Birmingham Council House.

(http://municipaldreams.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/birmingham-council-housepediment-victorian-web-i1.jpg)

114

Municipal Dreams 2013

47
Even more telling is the inscription on the foundation stone of the
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, through the gains of industry we
promote art. The Council House was a Venetian Palace, complete with
dome and full of Classical connotations. It is hard to think, regardless of how
successful one might think the building is architecturally, of any other building
that announces the stateliness of municipality and conjures up the style of
former civilisations with more passion than the Council House.115
Conclusions
The politics of Joseph Chamberlain and his contemporaries was a
romantic bourgeois politics, reflecting an incredibly proud industrial class and
ran by an enthusiastic set of local leaders full of self-confidence both in the
state of their own Town and of the nations Empire. The Museum and Art
Gallery had risen to dominate the classical piazza, later known as
Chamberlain Square in central Birmingham. The formidable Big Brum
tower stood to resplendent civic classicism as the culmination of a great
programme of civic development with the intention of crediting municipal
spirit.116 These were as Hunt calls them, the symbolic spaces, the finished
article in reference to a symbolism which had started over half a century
earlier, with the construction of the Town Hall. They were the precedent for
great meetings, and banquets, the elegant and tasteful aspects of high society.
It was a symbolic space created akin to the Roman Colosseum for the full
majesty of municipal self-aggrandisement.117 This was a symbolic
architecture, stylish too, and around it was a stylish society. For Chamberlain,
this was the essence of his philosophy and the reason for the success of the
space as a place of classical civic pride. As we look at the square today, the
BMI, the Library and even Masons Science College have made way for John
Madins hideous ziggurat, where neon lights of fast-food chains and tatty
shops dominate that side of the square. In the time of Chamberlain, it was
always the dignity of the public space and municipal life which superseded the

Hunt 2004:263
Hunt 2004:262
117 Hunt 2004:263
115
116

48
unpleasant end of profiteering business.118 The style and the society always
came first.

CONCLUSION
Birminghams civic architecture has been somewhat forgotten and
neglected. I would speculate that today many of those who have not visited
Birmingham would disregard it, as a place lacking beauty or wonder. I have
little doubt that they would say of it as architecturally uninspiring. The
legacy of the architectural alterations made to the city centre in the post-war
era lives somewhat fresher in the current day memory. Today the surviving
Victorian buildings stand away from the hustle and bustle of the Bull Ring,
which has propelled itself in the guise of 50% off sales and high street brands
to the centre of Birmingham public life. The Town Hall, lay dilapidated and
unused for many years until its magnificent refurbishment under the
guidance of Anthony Peers in the 1990s. Last year saw the citys library begin
life serving citizens in its third incarnation. The brutalist concrete predecessor
is due for demolition soon. As mentioned above, beneath this 1960s creation
lie the foundations of the first of Birminghams public libraries. So too then,
swept aside and forgotten is a different Birmingham. The very backbone of
modern society, universal suffrage and universal education, was fought for in
this city and built in to the very fabric of these great buildings.
By the turn of the century, Birminghams remarkable collection of
public buildings in its civic centre had become the most extraordinary
representation of public pride and municipal government to be found
anywhere in the country. It was the precedent of Greece and Rome that set
the example and attitudes towards the Classics were harnessed brilliantly for
Birminghams public buildings. As we have seen though, it was Classicism of
different shapes and sizes and of different periods. Ideologically, the Classics
were harnessed for reformist ideology, self-belief and education and municipal
strength and governance. Physically, Classicism in Birminghams central
squares transforms from the literalism of the Town Hall to the freedom and
decadence of the Council House and Museum. But that in my view is what
118

Hunt 2004:265

49
makes it so wonderful and successful, even more so if we can imagine the
square before unfortunate demolitions. There was no, stylistically harmonious
project, which constructed a vast civic forum of analogous facades. Here was
a mix of different buildings, performing different functions, aesthetically
pleasing in different ways but most importantly that all held different
meaning. Standing at the top of New Street, Corinthian columns dominating
the field of view, there in front of you were Birminghams nineteenth century
achievements displayed in bricks and mortar. Never before or since has
Birmingham witnessed architecture so engrained with ideology, buildings so
suggestive of beliefs and architectural styles so symbolic of society.

Figure 30 A sketch of Chamberlain Place as it may have looked in the late 19th
century, (2014). (Sketch: Oliver Kenzie)

Figure 31 Victoria Square as it is today, (http://visitbirmingham.com/files/2012-0311/VictoriaSquare.jpg)

50

BIBLIOGRAPHY
BIRMINGHAM CITY COUNCIL The Birmingham & Midland Institute,
http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/cs/Satellite?c=Page&childpagename=Syste
mAdmin/CFPageLayout&cid=1223092626123&packedargs=website%3D4
&pagename=BCC/Common/Wrapper/CFWrapper (accessed 6 February
2014)
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Drake, J. 1828. A Town Hall, The Birmingham Magazine 01, 91.
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Liversidge (ed.), Imagining Rome: British artists and Rome in the nineteenth century.
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Goldhill, S. 2011. Victorian Culture and Classical Antiquity: Art, Opera, Fiction and
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Hansard, House of Lords Debates (3rd Series) 2 November 1830 Vol. 1 cc1153.
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February 2014).

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Holyoak, J. 2009. John Henry Chamberlain, in P. Ballard (ed.), Birminghams
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53

GLOSSARY OF TERMS
Arch A curved structure capable
of spanning a space while
supporting significant weight.
NB: in context of ancient Rome
and imitating monuments can
denote a triumphal arch an
arch that is not a feature of a
substructure but free-standing
Astragal A moulding profile composed of
a half-round surface surrounded
by two flat planes (fillet)
Baroque The architectural style of the
period of the same name, starting
in late 16th century Italy and
ending in the 18th century, that
took the Roman vocabulary of
Renaissance architecture and
used it in a new rhetorical and
theatrical fashion
Barrel vault An architectural element formed
by the extrusion of a single curve
(or pair of curves, in the case of a
pointed barrel vault) along a
given distance.
Capital The topmost member of a column
or pilaster
Coffer A sunken panel in the shape of a
square, rectangle, or octagon that
serves as a decorative device,
usually in a ceiling or vault.
Column A large round support with a
capital and a base, as opposed to a
pilaster which is square
Composite An order which either is refined
(i.e. different capital or no fluting)
or mixes other orders
Corinthian See Orders
Flutes Refers to the shallow grooves
(fluting) running vertically along a
surface, typically on a column or
pilaster shaft

54
French- A generic term for French styles
Renaissance from the 15th-17th centuries
brought back in to fashion in the
late 19th-century. Sometimes
referred to as Napoleon III style
and Second Empire
Gothic The architectural style that
flourished in Europe in the high
and late Medieval period
Gothic An architectural movement that
revival began in the late 1740s
in England growing rapidly in
the19th century, reviving
medieval Gothic architecture

Charles Barrys, Palace of Westminster

Greek revival An architectural movement in

the late 18th and early 19th
centuries which spread over
Western Europe and the United
States, originating with the
rediscovery of Greece in the mid
18th century
Sir Robert Smirkes, British Museum

Hexastyle A portico, porch or arch

containing a row of six columns
Italianate 19th-century phase in the history
of Classical architecture.
Architectural vocabulary of 16thcentury Italian Renaissance
architecture, which had served as
inspiration for
both Palladianism and Neoclassicism
, were synthesised
Neoclassicis A vague term used to describe
m architecture which drew
inspiration from Classical art and
culture, spanning roughly from
the beginning of the 18th century
to the end of the 19th century

55
Orders The last (chronologically) of the
(Corinthian) three principal orders of Classical
architecture. It is distinguishable
by the decorative capital of
acanthus leaves
Corinthian capital
(from the Encyclopdie, ou dictionnaire
raisonn des sciences, des arts et des metiers)

Doric (order) One of the three principal orders

of Classical architecture,
distinguishable by a thicker shaft,
ridged fluting and a more
simplistic capital
Doric capital

Ionic (order) One of the three principal orders

of Classical architecture,
distinguishable by the rams
horns volutes on the capital
Ionic capital

Tuscan One of the two further

(order) architectural orders, it is a
simplified Roman adaption of
the Doric order distinguishable by
an un-fluted shaft and simplified
capital
Palladianism A European style of architecture
derived from and inspired by the
designs of the Venetian architect
Andrea Palladio (15081580)
Pavilion A feature where the wings of the
main building are emphasised by
an ending building to provide a
full-stop to the composition
Pilaster Used to give the appearance of a
supporting column and to
articulate the extend of a wall
Portico A series of columns or arches in
front of a building, generally as a
covered walkway.
Renaissance The architecture of the period
between the early 15th and early
17th centuries in different regions
of Europe, demonstrating a
conscious revival and
development of certain elements

Tuscan capital

56
of ancient
Greek and Roman thought and
material culture.

57

Figure 32 A Birdseye view over civic heart of Birmingham drawn in 1886. (http://municipaldreams.wordpress.com/category/town-hall/)