Birmingham Archives and Heritage

The Library of Birmingham is a public library in Birmingham, England. It is situated on the west side of the city centre at Centenary Square, beside the Birmingham Rep (to which it connects, and with which it shares some facilities) and Baskerville House. Upon opening on 3 September 2013, it replaced Birmingham Central Library. The library, which is estimated to have cost £188.8 million, is viewed by the Birmingham City Council as a flagship project for the city's redevelopment. It has been described as the largest public library in the United Kingdom, the largest public cultural space in Europe, and the largest regional library in Europe. 2,414,860 visitors came to the library in 2014 making it the 10th most popular visitor attraction in the UK.

A Real Birmingham Family is a public artwork and sculpture by Gillian Wearing, cast in bronze, and erected in Centenary Square, outside the Library of Birmingham, England, on 30 October 2014.It depicts two local sisters, each single mothers called Roma and Emma Jones, with their two children; Roma's son Kyan and Emma's son Shaye. Emma is depicted as pregnant with a second son, Isaac, who was born before the sculpture was unveiled. A small plaque laid on the ground in front of the work describes it. In a process begun in 2011, and coordinated by the city's Ikon Gallery, nominations for a "real" local family to model for the sculpture were invited. The Joneses were selected from a shortlist, by an independent panel, in August 2013.Wearing said: I really liked how Roma and Emma Jones spoke of their closeness as sisters and how they supported each other. It seemed a very strong bond, one of friendship and family, and the sculpture puts across that connectedness between them. A nuclear family is one reality but it is one of many and this work celebrates the idea that what constitutes a family should not be fixed. The £100,000 cost of the work was covered by a combination of public money and private donations. The casting was carried out in China. The project follows Wearing's 2008 work, A Typical Trentino Family.In November 2014 shortly after being unveiled, New Fathers 4 Justice activist Bobby Smith covered the statue with a white sheet and pictures of his two daughters. Smith commented, "They’ve depicted the normal family with no fathers... I believe kids are always better off with both parents in their lives."The statue went into storage in May 2017, to allow work for the redevelopment of Centenary Square to begin.

Centenary Square is a public square on the north side of Broad Street in Birmingham, England, named in 1989 to commemorate the centenary of Birmingham achieving city status. The area was an industrial area of small workshops and canal wharves before it was purchased by the council in the 1920s for the creation of a grand civic centre scheme to include museums, council offices, cathedral and opera house. The scheme was abandoned after the arrival of World War II with only the Hall of Memory and half of the planned Baskerville House complete. After the war the scheme was revived in a simpler form however the council never managed to implement the design. In 1991 the square was redesigned to complement the new International Convention Centre with new paving, railings and lamps designed by artist Tess Jaray, a fountain and several sculptures. During the construction and opening of the Library of Birmingham on the square in 2013 several of the elements of the 1991 design were removed and a library amphitheatre was built into the square. In 2014 a design competition was held to redesign the square. Construction of the redesigned square began in 2017 and was largely complete in 2019. The square is used as a staging area for many of the city's main cultural events including the Frankfurt Christmas Market, Arts Festivals, Remembrance Day Services, New Year's Celebrations and during Christmas hosts a temporary ice rink and Ferris wheel.

Baskerville House, previously called the Civic Centre, is a former civic building in Centenary Square, Birmingham, England. After serving as offices for the Birmingham City Council, it was extended with additional floors in 2007.

The Wheel of Birmingham or Birmingham Wheel was a series of transportable Ferris wheel installations at Centenary Square in Birmingham, England. These have been landmarks in central Birmingham, visible from many parts of the city. The first opened on 6 November 2003, and its replacement opened on 21 October 2004, both being 60 metres (197 ft) tall. A third wheel, the Birmingham Mail Wheel, operated from 18 January 2010 until 22 February 2010, and was also 60 m tall.

Snobs is a nightclub in Birmingham, England. It is located on Smallbrook Queensway at the corner of Hurst Street. The club was founded 50 years ago in 1972, and has been visited by over 2.5 million people during its time.Snobs primarily plays music within the genres of Indie rock, Rock and roll, retro, and Indie pop.It was announced in August 2014 that the club will host its final night at the current venue on Sunday 21 September 2014, ahead of its £2 million relocation to a larger venue in Ringway Centre on Smallbrook Queensway which will hold 1,400 people.

Birmingham Repertory Theatre, commonly called Birmingham Rep or just The Rep, is a producing theatre based on Centenary Square in Birmingham, England. Founded by Billie Lester , it is the longest-established of Britain's building-based theatre companies and one of its most consistently innovative.Today The Rep produces a wide range of drama in its three auditoria – The House with 825 seats, The Studio with 300 seats and The Door with 140 seats – much of which goes on to tour nationally and internationally. The company retains its commitment to new writing and in the five years to 2013 commissioned and produced 130 new plays.The company's former home, now known as "Old Rep", is still in use as a theatre.

Boulton, Watt and Murdoch is a gilded bronze statue depicting Matthew Boulton, James Watt, and William Murdoch by William Bloye, assisted by Raymond Forbes Kings. It stands on a plinth of Portland stone. It has often been described as Messrs Lee and Longland discussing a roll of wallpaper with a customer and is also known as The Golden Boys after its colour, or The Carpet Salesmen after the partially rolled-up plan of a steam engine which they are examining. In 1939 an £8,000 bequest from Richard Wheatley, and £7,500 from the City Council, enabled the work to be created and it was unveiled in 1956, from preliminary designs drawn up in 1938. In 1956 the statue was erected temporarily outside the Birmingham Register Office which is where it stood until the statue was restored and re-gilded in September 2006. In 2017 it was temporarily put into storage to allow construction of the West Midlands Metro; it was reinstalled on the plinth in Centenary Square outside Symphony Hall on 29 April 2022.

The Hall of Memory is a war memorial in Centenary Square, Birmingham, England, designed by S. N. Cooke and W. N. Twist. Erected 1922–25 by John Barnsley and Son, it commemorates the 12,320 Birmingham citizens who died in World War I.Built directly over a filled-in canal basin of Gibson's Arm, it was the first structure in an area (now occupied by Centenary Square and the International Convention Centre and Symphony Hall) purchased by the council for the creation of a grand civic scheme to include new council offices, the mayor's residence, a public library, and a concert hall. The scheme was abandoned after the commencement of World War II with only half of one wing of the planned Baskerville House having been built. Made from Portland stone, from the Isle of Portland in Dorset, the foundation stone was laid by the Prince of Wales on 12 June 1923 and it was opened by Prince Arthur of Connaught on 4 July 1925 to a crowd of 30,000. Construction had cost £60,000 and was funded through public donations. The four statues around the exterior are by local artist Albert Toft. They represent the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, and Women's Services. The interior features three carved bas-relief plaques (155 cm x 223 cm) by William Bloye representing three tableaux: Call (departure to war), Front Line (fighting), Return (arrival home of the wounded). These bear inscriptions: OF 150,000 WHO ANSWERED THE CALL TO ARMS 12,320 FELL: 35,000 CAME HOME DISABLED AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN AND IN THE MORNING WE WILL REMEMBER THEM SEE TO IT THAT THEY SHALL NOT HAVE SUFFERED AND DIED IN VAIN +*+ There is also a roll of honour illustrated by Sidney Meteyard.The hall was upgraded on 27 October 2014 to a Grade I listed building from its previous Grade II. During the Birmingham Blitz, on the night of 11 December 1940, all but the fine tower and classical west portico of St Thomas' Church, Bath Row, was destroyed by German bombs. The church was never rebuilt. The First World War Memorial colonnade, which had been built alongside the Hall of Memory in 1925, was relocated there when Centenary Square was laid out 1989. The gardens were re-designed as the St Thomas' Peace Garden in 1995 in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the end of World War II, as a monument to peace, and as a memorial to all those killed in armed conflict.

The former headquarters of the Birmingham Municipal Bank is a Grade II listed building by Thomas Cecil Howitt opposite what is now Centenary Square at 301 Broad Street, Birmingham, England. The building was opened on 27 November 1933 by Prince George. The BMB ceased to be a department of the city council in 1976, becoming a trustee savings bank,After the bank vacated the building, it was sold in 2006 to Birmingham City Council. The building was granted grade II listed status on 14 October 1996.In November 2017, the University of Birmingham completed the purchase of the Municipal Bank building. It is planned to create a city centre showcase to display its research and host performances and exhibitions.

The King Edward VII Memorial is a sculpture in memory of King Edward VII, relocated from Highgate Park to Centenary Square, Birmingham, England. In 1910, the Birmingham Mail launched an appeal to erect a statue to Edward VII in order to commemorate his reign. Over £5,000 were quickly raised, and an area within Birmingham Children's Hospital was allocated for its location (then located on Ladywood Road near Five Ways). Albert Toft was commissioned to craft the statue, but the project immediately ran into problems. The statue was to be over six feet tall, making it difficult to find a large enough piece of Carrara marble for its construction. This problem was overcome and the project was well underway through 1912.The statue was unveiled in Victoria Square on St George's Day, 23 April 1913 by Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll. It stood next to a statue of Queen Victoria. However, soon afterwards these statues were criticized as being of "ill matched designs". The statue of Edward VII was moved to Highgate Park when Victoria Square was remodeled in 1951.The statue was the subject of theft in the 1970s and 1980s, beginning with the Saint George's lance and then the three bronze groups in 1985 and 1986, none of which have been recovered. Following successful lobbying by the Victorian Society, Birmingham City Council agreed to restore the statue and re-site it back in the city center. On 12 June 2007, the Society launched an appeal fund to contribute towards the program of works which raised almost £12,000, more than 10% of the final cost of restoration. Work by Cliveden Conservation in Bath began in 2009. A new scepter and orb capital and the three bronzes (representing, respectively, Peace, Education and Progress, and St George slaying the dragon beneath a stylized crown) were re-made, and the monument reassembled on its original plinth. King Edward VII statue was finally placed in its new location outside Baskerville House in Centenary Square in 2013, near other Toft sculptures in the Hall of Memory.

One Centenary Square (formerly Two Arena Central), is a 55 metres (180 ft), eleven storey building between Alpha Tower and the former Birmingham Municipal Bank headquarters on Broad Street in Birmingham, England. The building serves HSBC Bank as their UK headquarters for the personal and business banking operations.