Baskerville House
Encyclopedia
Centenary Square
Centenary Square is a public square on Broad Street in central Birmingham, England, named in 1989 in celebration of the centenary of Birmingham achieving city status in 1889....
, Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
History
The site was originally occupied by the home of John BaskervilleJohn Baskerville
John Baskerville was an English businessman, in areas including japanning and papier-mâché, but he is best remembered as a printer and typographer.-Life:...
. He was buried nearby in the area which was known as Easy Hill. When the construction of a canal through the area was proposed, Baskerville's body was exhumed and found to be in good condition. It was placed on display to the public before being buried at Christ Church. The site adjacent to the canal, on the site of Baskerville House, was purchased by the Birmingham Aluminium Company who constructed Baskerville Basin. Gibson's Basin was also constructed nearby to serve a rolling mill. The city council bought the land in 1919 for a new Civic Centre. Baskerville Basin was filled in but Gibson's Basin remained. However, in 1936, Winfields Ltd decided to relocate to Icknield Port after taking over Vivians Rolling Mills. They abandoned the remainder of Gibson's Basin to Birmingham City Council
Birmingham City Council
The Birmingham City Council is the body responsible for the governance of the City of Birmingham in England, which has been a metropolitan district since 1974. It is the most populated local authority in the United Kingdom with, following a reorganisation of boundaries in June 2004, 120 Birmingham...
who filled it in for their Civic Centre plans.
In 1926, the city council organised an open competition for the new layout of the Civic Centre, however, many of the designs were deemed 'Too Ambitious'. As a result, the city engineer was asked to work with the architects of the Hall of Memory
Hall of Memory
Hall of Memory - a place , in which memorabilia associated with celebrities or some sort of historical events are stored and exibited for visitors. A hall of memory is a form of a museum place as well as a form of a memorial. The most fames one is Hall of Memory in Birmingham....
, S.N. Cooke, to create a better design. T. Cecil Howitt
Thomas Cecil Howitt
Thomas Cecil Howitt, OBE an eminent British provincial architect of the 20th Century, was born on 6 June 1889, at Hucknall, near Nottingham....
of Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
was asked to design the first building, which was to become Baskerville House. This was approved in 1936 and construction began in 1938. It became the only component to be built from the plan for the Civic Centre which would have covered all of Centenary Square and the Convention Centre, and included the Masonic Hall (1926-7 Rupert Savage) (demolished 2008) and Birmingham Municipal Bank
Birmingham Municipal Bank
The Birmingham Municipal Bank was a savings bank in the city of Birmingham, England. It was created as the Birmingham Corporation Savings Bank by a 1916 Act of Parliament, to raise money to aid World War I...
(recently TSB) building (1931-3 also T. Cecil Howitt) on Broad Street
Broad Street, Birmingham
Broad Street is a major thoroughfare and popular nightspot in Birmingham City Centre, United Kingdom. Traditionally, Broad Street was considered to be outside Birmingham City Centre, but as the city centre expanded with the removal of the Inner Ring Road, Broad Street has been incorporated into...
. World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
halted construction of Baskerville House (hence the rear brick wall, intended to be temporary), and after the war the use of Roman Imperial imagery on public buildings went out of fashion. A 1941 model of the proposed Civic Centre, designed by William Haywood, Secretary of The Birmingham Civic Society, is displayed in the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery is a museum and art gallery in Birmingham, England.Entrance to the Museum and Art Gallery is free, but some major exhibitions in the Gas Hall incur an entrance fee...
.
The building is decorated with the Coat of arms of Birmingham
Coat of arms of Birmingham
The coat of arms of Birmingham is the heraldic emblem of the English city of Birmingham. It was first used in 1838 and has been changed several times since, as the former town grew and developed into a city.- Incorporation :...
.
Renovation
Formerly offices for parts of Birmingham City Council, including the Planning Department and Economic Development Department, the Grade II listed building. remained vacant for several years after the City Council vacated the property in the spring of 1998. The initial refurbishment plan proposed conversion to a Radisson Edwardian Hotel. A feasibility study into whether it was possible to locate the Central LibraryBirmingham Central Library
Birmingham Central Library is the main public library in Birmingham, England, and the largest non-national library in Europe. It is managed by Birmingham City Council...
was carried out, and the building was deemed to not be suitable as it would not be strong enough to hold all the books.
The building was subsequently sold to Targetfollow
Targetfollow
Targetfollow is a major property investment and development company in the United Kingdom, established in 1992. It has become one of the leading property companies in the UK, typically specialising in major city centre opportunities....
who proposed to convert into offices. This was approved and it was completely gutted and extended two floors upwards to provide office space on seven floors, and a health club in the basement. Work started in August 2003 and was completed in early 2007 at an estimated cost of £30 million. There is 195108 sq ft (18,126.1 m²) of office space within the building with floorplates of 27000 sq ft (2,508.4 m²). The two new floors are of steel and glass. A lighting scheme was added to the exterior by Hoare Lea Lighting of the Hoare Lee group who were also commissioned for other aspects of the build.
The building won the Commercial Development of the Year award at the Midlands Property Week awards in July 2007. The building also won the Midlands and East Anglia regional award in the Refurbished/Recycled Workplace category at the British Council for Offices awards in October 2007.
A statue of King Edward VII
King Edward VII Memorial
The King Edward VII Memorial is a sculpture in memory of King Edward VII, located in 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...
was moved to a plinth near the South-West corner of the building in November 2010.
Industry and Genius
A sculpture of the BaskervilleBaskerville
Baskerville is a transitional serif typeface designed in 1757 by John Baskerville in Birmingham, England. Baskerville is classified as a transitional typeface, positioned between the old style typefaces of William Caslon, and the modern styles of Giambattista Bodoni and Firmin Didot.The...
typeface, Industry and Genius, in honour of John Baskerville stands outside the main entrance to Baskerville House in Centenary Square. It is by local artist David Patten and was created as part of the 'Percentage For Art' scheme in 1990. The letters spell out Virgil
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
, the name of the Roman poet whose works were printed by Baskerville, in his typeface, in 1757. Made out of Portland stone
Portland stone
Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries consist of beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building stone throughout the British Isles, notably in major...
and bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
, it is 150 centimetres (59 in) high, 100 centimetres (39 in) wide and 650 centimetres (256 in) long.
Sources
- A Guide to the Buildings of Birmingham, Peter Leather, ISBN 0-7524-2475-0