…Sorry to disappoint those of you who were expecting a blog featuring supernatural art! This post is actually following on from my recent ‘ghost signs‘ post. ‘Ghost sign’ is the term given to the old, faded advertisements often found on the sides of buildings. There have been calls recently for these remnants of our past to be preserved.
‘Ghost art’ (my own term!) is an interesting twist on the ‘ghost’ style. These beautiful photos show street art depicting incredibly life-like portraits, painted in a faded style, often on derelict and rundown buildings. If you appreciate street art, its definitely worth checking this link out.
Homes fit for Heroes is a remarkable collection of wartime photographs of domestic life in Birmingham. Bill Brandt was commissioned by the Bournville Village Trust to record life in the cramped and often squalid Back to Backs in which so many people lived and also photograph life in newer, more modern homes. There are also a few images taken in Camden Hill in London.
In many ways these images make the ordinary striking. Brandt wrote that he found:
atmosphere to be the spell that charged the commonplace with beauty
and these images certainly reflect that.
They were taken around the time of BVT was preapring When We Build Again, a book arguing for quality homes for families after the war and published in 1941 by Allen and Unwin. It was also the name of a remarkable documentary shot in Birmingham and released in 1943.
The book contains a detailed introduction by Peter James (head of photography at Birmingham Library) and Richard Sadler (who was head photography at Derby University at the time) which not only explains the history of the images but also the story of how they were lost and then re-found.
At then end is a postscript by Dr Mike Beazley of the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies at the University of Birmingham on some work being carried out in 2004 to put these photos in the wider historical context.
If you are a lover of the domestic history of Birmingham and great documentary photography treat yourself – buy this book!
Ghost sign on the Stratford Road. Photographed by Caroline Bunford, image courtesy of The History of Advertsing Trust
Something that has always fascinated me are the faded, years old painted adverts one can occasionally spot on the sides of buildings. Some are more obvious, others are almost invisible, unless you know what you are looking for. I’ve recently spotted a couple of new-ish painted adverts for a certain Tennessee whiskey on a couple of buildings along Broad St and whilst they make a change from the more usual ways of advertising, they should definitely not be confused with authentic ‘ghost signs’, as they are referred to by the History of Advertsing Trust.
In a brief, but interesting article on the Guardian website, Jonathan Glancey calls for these vanishing reminders of our advertising past to be saved from today’s ruthless developers and points us in the direction of the History of Advertising Trust’s excellent ‘ghost signs’ online archive.
I really can’t resist a book laden with old photographs of Birmingham – which is why I bought Victorian Buildings of Birmingham by Roy Thornton. I’m sure we’ll end up reviewing, or perhaps describing, many more like it.
The publishers descriptions says:
Birmingham’s Victorian heritage is still surprisingly well preserved, despite much demolition during the twentieth century, and major redevelopment in the last few months and years. In this book Roy Thornton looks at a selection of the city’s Victorian architecture, some of the lost buildings as well as the survivors to illustrate the range of building that took place during Birmingham’s most prosperous decades. A wide range of old and new photographs, maps, plans, drawings and paintings are also included. Public buildings, churches, houses, industrial buildings, schools and hospitals are all discussed, together with a special study of Corporation Street – arguably the city centre’s best-preserved Victorian thoroughfare.”Victorian Buildings of Birmingham” will appeal to anyone interested in the history of Britain’s second city.
Roy Thornton was born and brought up in Birmingham and has lived and worked in the West Midlands ever since. He trained as an architect and ran his own architectural practice for over thirty years. Roy has now retired but is still an active member of many local groups, clubs and societies.
My favourite with these books is rootling through to find places I know. This book organises the images in the following chapters:
Martin & Chamberlain
Public Buildings
The Colmore Estate
Colmore Row and Victoria Square
The Original Buildings of Corporation Street
New Street and the Rest
Board Schools & Others
Hospitals
Residential Buildings
Religious Buildings
The Jewellery Quarter & Surrounds
Public Houses
A Miscellany
Despite the grandeur of most Public buildings and the commercial streets I enjoy the domestic buildings. Detail after detail of Victorian Houses in Edgbaston, Moseley, Sutton Coldfield, Sparkbrook, Highgate and Handsworth.
I was able to go to The Victorian Society‘s Saving a Century exhibition at the Central Library just before it moved on to the next city. It was completely engrossing with some fantastic photography and stories both dispiriting and uplifting.
It made me realise that I know little of the buildings that Birmingham itself has lost, because much of them were lost before my time. I remembered Roy Thornton’s Lost Buildings of Birmingham being published a year or so ago, treated myself to a copy and found a great book full of atmospheric photographs and illustrations under various different catagories – public buildings, religious buildings, etc. I was suddenly nostalgic for buildings I had never known!
While brief, the text accompanying the images is informative, and interestingly, for the most part doesn’t include the reason for a building’s demolition – maybe this information wasn’t always available to the author, but rather than have us puzzle and rage over the politics and unfairness of city planning, Thornton allows us to appreciate the former glories of Birmingham for what they were. And quite right too.
Looking through his late father’s photograph collection in early 2005, Mark Norton had a brainwave:
With more careful study of the pictures I was able to work out exactly where many of them had been taken. Subtle clues from one would help in locating another. A magnifying glass and old and new maps helped in the investigation. As the jigsaw came together, two things hit me. One was that my father had carefully recorded Birmingham prior to the inner ring road development. The other was that the city had lost a huge number of beautiful old buildings in the name of ‘progress’.
The resulting project is an exciting and striking record of Birmingham’s past and present, offering comparative views of the city centre in the 1950s and 60s, juxtaposted with modern day images of the same locations.
Bull St, Dale End High Street, 1962
Bull St, Dale End High Street: Now
Photo by D.J. Norton is a rich and informative website, bristling with historical information, interesting images of Birmingham and information about our exciting and varied architectural history.
The images above were taken of Newman Brother’s coffin works on September 11th 2009 by the Birmingham Flickr Group member keshvala. If you look here at keshvala other photo’s you’ll see their passion for Birmingham’s historic buildings.
Brian Simpson was one of a number of members of the Birmingham Flickr group who visited Newman Brother’s coffin work in September to take photo’s of the building. Below is his set of images.
