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Chamberlain Square and Paradise

The civic heart of Birmingham has been rebuilt twice: the Victorian square of the Town Hall, library and Chamberlain fountain; John Madin’s Central Library and Paradise Circus of the 1970s; and the Paradise office scheme that replaced them after 2015.

Detailed bird’s-eye drawing of a Victorian city centre with a domed civic building and a classical hall.
Henry William Brewer, 4 September 1886. The Graphic via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

In 1886 the artist H. W. Brewer drew a bird’s-eye view of Birmingham for *The Graphic*. In the foreground is a small square, with a Gothic fountain in the middle, the Town Hall to one side, the Council House and the new Museum and Art Gallery beyond. That square has been dug up, rebuilt and argued about twice since. It is still there.

A Victorian civic square

Victorian engraving of a large Gothic college building on a street.
Mason Science College, 18801880. Illustrated London News via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

The Town Hall came first. It was won in competition in 1830 by the young J. A. Hansom and E. Welch, and not finished until 1849. Yeoville Thomason’s Council House followed in 1874–79, and the Museum and Art Gallery in 1881–85. The public library opened in Ratcliff Place in 1865, burned in 1879 and reopened in 1882, its reference library interior by Martin and Chamberlain. Next door rose Mason College, founded by Sir Josiah Mason and built in 1875–80, the seed of the University of Birmingham.

In the middle, in 1880, the town put up a fountain to Joseph Chamberlain, its reforming mayor. It was designed by J. H. Chamberlain, no relation, with a portrait medallion by Thomas Woolner. It is listed Grade II.

A civic centre

From the 1920s the council dreamed of a grand civic centre to the west, along Broad Street. Only part was built, including Baskerville House, opened in 1940. By 1938, Larkham and Adams record, the council had resolved that a new library was “an urgent necessity”. War and then the ring road pushed it back.

“I designed this bus station underneath so you got out of your bus and went up an escalator and you walked straight into the central library,” Madin said in 2011.

When the time came, the Victorian buildings went. Mason College was demolished in 1964, the University says, to make way for the new library. That year the City Architect asked John Madin to join him on a master plan. It was shown to the public and approved unanimously by the council in 1968.

Madin imagined a “civic heart” of library, school of music, sports institute and a bus station underneath, with a 460-foot column and a future monorail station on the model. Much of it was never built. The bus station was, but never used. “I designed this bus station underneath so you got out of your bus and went up an escalator and you walked straight into the central library,” Madin said in 2011. “But they never used it.”

Madin’s library

Gothic memorial fountain in a square, with a large concrete library behind.
Chamberlain Square and the Central Library, 15 September 2012Robin Stott, 15 September 2012. Geograph Britain and Ireland via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0

Building began in 1969, and Harold Wilson opened the Central Library in January 1974. The reference library was an inverted ziggurat, with a curved lending block beside it, designed by Madin in consultation with the City Architect, J. A. Maudsley. The Victorian library was demolished; its Shakespeare Memorial Room was taken apart and saved. Madin had wanted stone or marble cladding, but the City Architect persuaded the council to use precast concrete instead, “all against our wishes”, Madin said.

The stepped concrete Central Library seen across Chamberlain Square.
Birmingham Central Library from Chamberlain Square, 13 February 2010Elliott Brown, 13 February 2010. Flickr via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0

It became the most argued-over building in Birmingham. Prince Charles was reported to have said it looked like a place for burning books rather than reading them. In 2008 English Heritage recommended listing it, praising its “boldly confident exterior”. The council, which wanted the site, opposed listing. In November 2009 the minister, Margaret Hodge, refused, saying the decision was “finely balanced”. The Twentieth Century Society said it was “tremendously disappointed”. A certificate of immunity from listing followed on 11 January 2011.

Paradise

The council had already chosen a new home for the library. The Library of Birmingham, by Mecanoo, opened in Centenary Square on 3 September 2013.

New office buildings and cranes on a city skyline.
The Paradise development, 19 June 2019Roger D Kidd, 19 June 2019. Geograph Britain and Ireland via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0

In December 2012 the council’s planning committee backed a £450 million plan by the developer Argent, masterplanned by Glenn Howells Architects, for 6.8 hectares between Centenary Square and Chamberlain Square, called Paradise. Work started on site in December 2015. Madin’s library, Paradise Forum, the Conservatoire, the Adrian Boult Hall, which held its last concert on 26 June 2016, and Fletcher’s Walk were all demolished. Paradise Circus, the ring road junction underneath, closed to general traffic in 2018.

Office blocks rose in their place: One Chamberlain Square, by Eric Parry Architects, and Two Chamberlain Square, both finished in 2019; One Centenary Way in 2023; Three Chamberlain Square in 2025. By 2021 the scheme was valued at about £700 million.

The square again

Chamberlain Square closed in November 2015 and reopened on 29 March 2021, with new steps and paving. Its centrepiece was the old fountain, fully restored, with its jets working again.

Stand there now and you can see three versions of the civic centre at once: the Victorian Town Hall and Council House, the empty space where the ziggurat stood, and the new glass offices. The memorial to the mayor who first remade the town is the one thing every generation decided to keep.

A long read

Herbert Manzoni: the man who remade Birmingham

Birmingham survived the Blitz, then rebuilt itself on purpose. Compare the city before and after on four lined-up maps, see what the Inner Ring Road took, and judge for yourself.

Read the story →

On the map

9 places connected with Chamberlain Square and Paradise. Tap a number for directions — some sites are private homes or gardens, so each place’s page says what you can see from the street.

11. The Victorian Central Library, Ratcliff Place — Lost, Site redeveloped22. Birmingham and Midland Institute, Paradise Street — Lost, Site redeveloped33. Mason Science College, Edmund Street — Lost, Site redeveloped44. Paradise Circus — Lost, Site redeveloped55. Thomas Attwood statue, Chamberlain Square — Surviving66. The Chamberlain Memorial — Surviving, Surviving but altered77. Statue of Joseph Priestley, Ratcliff Passage — Relocated, Surviving but altered88. Statue of James Watt, Ratcliff Passage — Relocated99. Birmingham Central Library (John Madin) — Lost, Site redeveloped
Map © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Old map: Ordnance Survey six-inch, 1888–1913, reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland (CC BY 4.0). A dashed ring means the position is approximate; a shaded ring means only the general area is known.
  1. The Victorian Central Library, Ratcliff Place — Lost, Site redeveloped · Directions to The Victorian Central Library, Ratcliff Place (opens Google Maps)
  2. Birmingham and Midland Institute, Paradise Street — Lost, Site redeveloped · Directions to Birmingham and Midland Institute, Paradise Street (opens Google Maps)
  3. Mason Science College, Edmund Street — Lost, Site redeveloped · Directions to Mason Science College, Edmund Street (opens Google Maps)
  4. Paradise Circus — Lost, Site redeveloped · Directions to Paradise Circus (opens Google Maps)
  5. Thomas Attwood statue, Chamberlain Square — Surviving · Directions to Thomas Attwood statue, Chamberlain Square (opens Google Maps)
  6. The Chamberlain Memorial — Surviving, Surviving but altered · Directions to The Chamberlain Memorial (opens Google Maps)
  7. Statue of Joseph Priestley, Ratcliff Passage — Relocated, Surviving but altered · Directions to Statue of Joseph Priestley, Ratcliff Passage (opens Google Maps)
  8. Statue of James Watt, Ratcliff Passage — Relocated · Directions to Statue of James Watt, Ratcliff Passage (opens Google Maps)
  9. Birmingham Central Library (John Madin) — Lost, Site redeveloped · Directions to Birmingham Central Library (John Madin) (opens Google Maps)

Open on the full map →

Key dates

  1. 13 August 1963 — Demolition begins for the new libraryThe City Engineer and Surveyor’s Department photographs demolition beginning in Great Charles Street for the new Central Library at Paradise Circus.
  2. 1964 — Mason College demolishedThe Edmund Street building of Mason College, opened in 1880 and the forerunner of the University of Birmingham, is demolished for the new Central Library. Fragments still stood in 1969.
  3. 1965 — Midland Institute compulsorily purchasedThe Birmingham and Midland Institute’s Paradise Street building is compulsorily purchased so that Paradise Street can be widened for re-routed traffic. The Institute moves to Margaret Street in 1966.
  4. 1974 — Victorian Central Library demolishedAfter Madin’s new library opens, the Victorian library of 1882 in Ratcliff Place is demolished. Its Shakespeare Memorial Room is dismantled and saved.
  5. 25–27 March 1988 — The Highbury InitiativeA symposium on the future of the city centre recommends that “the concrete collar of the Inner Ring Road be broken”. The council begins lowering and removing the road.
  6. November 2009 — Minister refuses to list the Central LibraryMargaret Hodge rejects English Heritage’s advice to list Madin’s Central Library at Grade II, calling the decision “finely balanced”. A certificate of immunity from listing follows in 2011.
  7. December 2015 — Work begins on ParadiseArgent starts work on the Paradise redevelopment. Madin’s library, Paradise Forum, the Conservatoire and the Adrian Boult Hall are demolished over the following year.
  8. September 2018 — Paradise Circus closes to general trafficParadise Circus, renamed Lyon Queensway, closes for the Metro and the Paradise redevelopment. Through traffic keeps using the A38 tunnel underneath.
  9. December 2019 — Trams reach Centenary SquareThe Metro extension from Grand Central to Library opens, bringing trams to Centenary Square.
  10. 1 July 2020 — Attwood returns to Chamberlain SquareAfter nearly five years in store during the Paradise redevelopment, the bronze Thomas Attwood is returned to the steps of Chamberlain Square.
  11. 29 March 2021 — Chamberlain Square reopensChamberlain Square reopens after five years of rebuilding, with the 1880 Chamberlain Memorial fully restored and its fountain working again.
  12. 17 July 2022 — Trams run along Broad StreetThe Metro opens along Broad Street to Edgbaston, with stops at Brindleyplace, Five Ways and Edgbaston Village, in time for the Commonwealth Games.
  13. July 2026 — Watt and Priestley return to Ratcliff PassageAfter about ten years in store during the Paradise redevelopment, the statues of James Watt and Joseph Priestley are reinstated at either end of Ratcliff Passage, beside the Town Hall.

The full timeline →

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Sources and further reading
  1. Joseph Chamberlain Memorial, Chamberlain Square — National Heritage List for England entry 1220619 — Historic England
  2. Council House, City Museum and Art Gallery and Council House extension — National Heritage List for England entry 1210333 — Historic England
  3. Town Hall, Victoria Square — National Heritage List for England entry 1343161 — Historic England
  4. A History of the County of Warwick, vol. 7: The City of Birmingham — Secular Architecture, pp. 43–57 — W. B. Stephens (ed.), Victoria County History, 1964
  5. Birmingham’s Public Libraries — The Iron Room, Library of Birmingham, 2012
  6. Mason College Heraldic Shields — University of Birmingham
  7. The Un-necessary Monument? The Origins, Impact and Potential Conservation of Birmingham Central Library — Peter J. Larkham and David Adams, Transactions of the Ancient Monuments Society 60, 2016
  8. Lost Modern: Birmingham Central Library — Twentieth Century Society
  9. Hodge refuses to list Birmingham Central Library — Architects’ Journal, Architects’ Journal, 2009
  10. Demolition of Madin’s Birmingham Central Library set to start — Architects’ Journal, Architects’ Journal, 2014
  11. 10 Years of the Library of Birmingham — The Iron Room, Library of Birmingham, 2023
  12. Paradise Circus first phase gets go-ahead — Building, 2015
  13. Five years later — Rob Groves (Argent), Paradise Birmingham, 2020
  14. Chamberlain Square re-opens at Paradise — Paradise Birmingham, 2021
  15. Timeline and history — Paradise Birmingham
  16. One Chamberlain Square, Birmingham — Eric Parry Architects
  17. City of sounds: saying goodbye to Birmingham Conservatoire’s Adrian Boult Hall — Geoff Read, Seen and Heard International, 2016

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