Then & Now

[JudithM]

Smallbrook Ringway approaching the Hill Street / Hurst Street junction, from the 1950's up until the present.

It's looking like that view will change again in the not too distant future.  Although I haven't heard anything new about this recently most of the shops & other premises along the Hurst Street side of the road are empty now.

This piece is from 2016 &B it gives an artists impression of what the view from your picture would look like.

https://www.insidermedia.com/insider/midlands/plans-in-for-smallbrook-queensway-redevelopment

[JudithM]

I find it thought provoking that I watched these flats being built on the Kellett Road estate in Nechells in the late 1950's. Now less than some 60 years later they are gone and it's as if they never existed not even having half the life span of the slum hovels that they were built to replace. What did they do but replace one slum with another only to replace that with something that looks to me well on the way to being another slum.

Many of the so called slum buildings were structurally sound & would have just needed some renovation & modernisation (to bring in indoor plumbing & modern kitchens).  It was cheaper & easier to knock them down & build concrete boxes which haven't stood the test of time - either structurally or socially.

[Phil]

Judith


I have contracted on both demolition and urban renewal sites for Birmingham City Council and it seems to me they went about it all the wrong way. I have seen more money spent on some terraced 3 bedroom houses than they were worth when finished. By the same token I have seen some marvelous 5 and 6 bedroom houses demolished when they could be still standing today and these are what are needed today and they are not being built.


Ashted Row in Nechells was a prime example, they demolished some great Victorian type houses they could have been renovated easily and would have been an asset today. This is Ashted Row at the bottom end renamed Hildred Road today.

[JudithM]

It's a shame.  Many of the Victorian dwellings had really good bones so to speak.  My brother recently moved out of a standard Victorian terrace (in the Yardley/Acock's Green area) to an extended Victorian cottage out in the countryside. Both properties were really well laid out & ideal for modern living (with the addition of the indoor plumbing of course!)

Many of the flats & council houses of the period in your Hildred Road picture are being demolished to make way for new stuff as they have not stood the test of time, yet the Victorian terrace lives on.

[Phil]

Judith


I actually worked on those flats as a lad of 16/17 with a plasterer who was a sub contractor. It was the best job working for somebody else I ever had.

[JudithM]

Judith


I actually worked on those flats as a lad of 16/17 with a plasterer who was a sub contractor. It was the best job working for somebody else I ever had.

Must be a great 'I did that' feeling every time you see them.

[Phil]

Judith


I have left my mark all over  Birmingham in some cases I am very proud of what I have helped to do, in others I am a little ashamed. Especially when I have removed buildings that should be still standing today, but I think that has been offset by some listed buildings that I have helped save.

[townie]

Judith


I have left my mark all over  Birmingham in some cases I am very proud of what I have helped to do, in others I am a little ashamed. Especially when I have removed buildings that should be still standing today, but I think that has been offset by some listed buildings that I have helped save.

Phil You seem to have done a lot for Birmingham whether its to destroy it or preserve it, I'm surprised that Carl Chinn has not acknowledged you in any of his books, or has he? 

[Phil]

Obviously graffiti is not a new thing, as this composite shows. It's Bournville Lane firstly as it is now and then before the second world war.

[JudithM]

Obviously graffiti is not a new thing, as this composite shows. It's Bournville Lane firstly as it is now and then before the second world war.

Is that a gas powered vehicle in the old picture?  If so, I wonder whether it would have fit under the bridge with it's gas bag inflated?  Still, it would have made for a softer collision than the buses & lorries that smash in to it today!

[Phil]

Is that a gas powered vehicle in the old picture?  If so, I wonder whether it would have fit under the bridge with it's gas bag inflated?  Still, it would have made for a softer collision than the buses & lorries that smash in to it today!

Judith


It's a Scammell Mechanical Horse and the photo was taken in 1936. I believe they were powered by a petrol engine and some by diesel, If you look closely above the number plate you can just see the radiator filler cap so that rules out electric. In 1936 there would have been no need for a gas conversion so I think we can assume either petrol or diesel.


I had licences to drive almost everything that can be driven on our roads and at one time or other probably drove most, but this is one thing I always wanted to drive but never had the opportunity to do so.