Walk 1: Birmingham City Centre

Start: Curzon Street Railway Station, Moor Street Queensway, B4 7UD. OS Grid ref: SP 0743 8689

Finish: Church of St Michael, Moor Street Queensway, B4 7UD. OS Grid ref: SP07408691

Distance: 1.2 miles/1.8km

Approx time: 30–40 minutes

Pubs/cafés: Moor Street Station and numerous venues on your walk

Parking: Nearest car park – Moor Street Car Park, B5 5TE

Train: Nearest train stations – Birmingham Moor Street & New Street. National Rail Enquiries Tel: 03457 484950 www.nationalrail.co.uk

Bus: Traveline Tel: 0871 2002233 www.traveline.inf

This self-guided walk series leads us around the historical core of the city.

Follow the route below or to download a simplified version to print, click here: WALK 1

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Start outside the New Curzon Street Railway Station.

Walk south along Moor Street Queensway to:

Old Moor Street Station opened in 1909, initially using temporary buildings until the permanent building opened on 7th July 1914. The station was designed by W. Y. Armstrong and built of brick, partially faced with terracotta tiles and stone dressings, with steel and glazed platform roofs.

During the 1960s Moor Street Station was used less frequently and became rundown. By the mid 1980s a new Moor Street Station was built and the old station closed in 1987. A year later the ‘Moor Street Station Historical Society’ was formed to save the, by then, dilapidated station. Teams of volunteers restored the station every weekend and as a result of their hard work the station became Grade II listed in 1998.

In the 2000s an £11 million 1930s style refurbishment transformed the Old Station with reproduction clocks, seating and signage. In 1993 a route was established to London Marylebone, making Moor Street a main line station for the first time.

The ground floor of Moor Street Car Park is all that remains of Shed B of Moor Street Goods Station, which opened in 1909. The Goods Station was built on steep terrain, on two levels, with metal goods sheds overlying two masonry sheds, Sheds A and B. Designed by L.G. Mouchel, the Goods Station is an early example of a reinforced concrete technique pioneered by Francois Hennebique. Lifts lowered wagons from the platforms to the lower levels of the sheds. Fish, fruit and vegetables were the main produce handled at the Goods Station for distribution to local markets, such as the Bullring.

The Goods Station closed on the 6th November 1972. The high-level metal sheds were removed in 1975 and Shed A was demolished in 2000 to make way for the new access road ‘the Bus Mall’ for the Bullring. The upper floor of Shed B was demolished and only the ground floor now survives, along with the original entrances to Shed B on Park and Allison Streets.

St Martins (Grade II listed) was the original parish church for Birmingham. The structure was enlarged during the medieval period with the addition of a lofty knave and chancel, north and south aisles and a tower with a spire. In 1690 the exterior of the church was clad in brick except for the spire, which had 40 feet added to it in 1781. The church was demolished in 1873 and rebuilt with a window in the south transept designed by Edward Burne-Jones and made by William Morris. This was the only window in the church to survive World War II bombing. Four medieval tomb effigies survive within the church, of members of the de Bermingham family, dating between c. 1325 (the oldest surviving monument in the city) and c. 1500. The church can be visited on Tuesdays to Saturdays between 10am and 4.30pm. The church today follows the values of its namesake St Martin and provides help for those in need.

This small-scale bronze monument to Lord Horatio Nelson (Grade II listed), by Sir Richard Westmacott, is of exceptional quality. It was erected in 1809, making Birmingham the first place in the country to raise a statue to Nelson’s memory following his death in 1805. It was funded by a public subscription of £2500 after Nelson’s visit to the town in 1802, where he was greeted by huge crowds, the year before he sailed against Napoleon’s fleets.

The statue features Nelson standing in uniform, his outstretched arm resting on an anchor, with the prow of a miniature man-of-war, the HMS Victory, behind him. The statue was originally erected on the site of the Old Cross, and stood outside the Market Hall which opened next to it in 1835. During the 1960s redevelopment of the Bull Ring the statue was moved, and the carved plinth, cannon and lanterns which formed part of the original design were lost. The statue was returned close to its original position following the more recent redevelopment and forms the centrepiece of Birmingham’s annual Trafalgar Day commemoration.

This twenty-four storey cylindrical office tower was designated a Grade II listed building because of its uniqueness in Britain as a simple form which demonstrated a move towards the simple shapes found in 1960s art. The building was designed by local architect James Roberts. Construction began in 1960 and was completed to revised designs between 1964–1965; interestingly, each floor was built at ground level then jacked up one floor at a time. It was originally built as an office block and used by Lloyds Bank. A textured mural on the ground floor, designed by John Poole, contrasts with the smooth exterior of the tower. The Rotunda was converted into residential apartments between 2005–2008.

The former bank (Grade II listed) was built between 1867–69 and was designed by Edward Holmes. The building was extended towards Stephenson Place and Stephenson Street in 1875. The ground floor exterior has banded rustication ashlar blocks and a central arched entrance within a porch with coupled granite Ionic columns. The interior of the building takes the form of a banking hall with arcaded windows separated by giant Corinthian-type pilasters, while the ceiling is decorated with deep recessed panels and a central coved glazed roof.

Corporation Street dates from c. 1875 when redevelopment of the area saw the demolition of slum housing in order to build a street inspired by Parisian boulevards.

A Grade II five storey commercial building, built c. 1880 and comprised of limestone ashlar blocks with a slate mansard roof. The architectural style of the building can be described as a Free-style composition with a mixture of Hispanic and Elizabethan details.

A Grade II listed three-storey commercial building built c. 1880. The building is constructed with limestone ashlar blocks and built in the Free-style architectural design with a Venetian-style attic storey.

The Grade II listed building was built between 1881–82 in an Arts and Crafts style by J. L. Ball, his first independent work. No.10 Cherry Street is a red brick four storey building with an attic and a tile roof.

There are five Grade II listed monuments within the churchyard:

The lower part of a fluted column commemorates John Heap and William Badger, two labourers who died in 1833 after falling from a crane while building the Town Hall from which the unused column came (immediately to the east on entering the churchyard). A stone fountain in the form of a shell basin within a wreath, beneath an angel with an open book (in the western corner of the churchyard). A red granite obelisk for Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Unett who was killed at the siege of Sebastopol in 1855 (in the southern area of the churchyard). The Egyptianate monument to Samuel Rostill Lines, who died 26th November c. 1820 (near the main entrance) and finally, the bronze statue of Rt Rev Charles Gore, the first bishop of Birmingham, 1905–1911, on a Portland stone plinth with an armorial shield (in front of the main door of the Cathedral).

There are also two conspicuous monuments within the churchyard that are targeted:

The Burnaby Obelisk is of late 19th-century date and is made of Portland stone. The obelisk is a monument to F. G. Burnaby (1842–1885), a British Army intelligence officer whose exploits captured the imagination of the Victorians. He unsuccessfully stood for the Birmingham parliamentary seat in 1880 and 1885.

The Grade I listed church of St Philip was consecrated in 1715, although the tower was not completed until 1725, and raised to cathedral status in 1905. The church was designed in 1709 by Thomas Archer, and was his first big commission. The church is a major monument in the architectural style of the English Baroque. The stone exterior was refaced in 1864–69 and restored between 1947–48 after war damage. The church is rectangular in plan with slight east and west projections representing the chancel and tower. The major internal furnishings are the organ-case of 1715 by Thomas Schwarbrick of Warwick, the wrought-iron chancel rails in the style of Tijou or Bakewell of Derby and the east and west stained glass windows of 1885–97, designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones and made by William Morris.

Built between 1898–1901, the City Arcade, Union Street, (Grade II listed) was designed by the architects T.W.F Newton and Cheattle. The Union Street gabled façade has three storeys adorned with decorative terracotta tiles, plus an attic. The main entrance to the arcade on Union Street consists of a large central arch flanked by polygonal turrets terminating in little cupolas with windows and buttresses decorated with scrolls. The rear entrance on Union Passage is much plainer. The interior of the arcade has a green faience tile balustrade by Doulton and Co., while other detailing was by W. J. Neatby.

This Grade II listed building was designed in 1860 by the noted Birmingham architect, Charles Edge. His other listed buildings include the extension to the Birmingham Town Hall (Grade I). The exterior of the premises is in a continental Gothic style and is little-altered. The interior of the building houses a gun shop and associated workshops, with benches and a hearth, besides accommodation on the upper floors. The survival of a combination of a gun shop and associated workshops for making firearms is rare. The gun shop is integral to Birmingham’s role and importance in the specialist gun trade. The history of Powell’s gun company can be traced back to William Powell and Joseph Simmons in 1802. Powell’s was a major gun manufacturer in the 19th century and made guns for the Napoleonic wars and for the American Civil War and patented a number of inventions.

The Grade II listed Church of St Michael was built c. 1800 and was originally a dissenting chapel. Prior to the c. 1800 church there was a meeting house at this location and Joseph Priestly, who discovered oxygen, preached there in the 1780s and 1790s. The current building has a Classical gable end with three bays and the central bay has coupled Ionic pilasters and a moulded pediment above with the entablature of ‘ST MICHAELS CATHOLIC CHURCH’. The entrance porch has three round headed arches.