This week’s Friday Photo is of a old building you may indeed recognise….Whitmore Warehouse, the site of the old Elkington and Mason Co electro-gilding and plating works. Hidden away in Newhall Square, just off Newhall Street, you can even catch a quick glimpse of the building as you meander up Fleet Street, not too far from the Coffin Works, right next to the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal. The listed building dates from 1838, and is now part of the Newhall Square development which includes luxury apartments and a hotel, but surprisingly this building is actually not part of the plans, so its future use is still uncertain. It has been described as one of the most important Birmingham buildings of the 19^th century, and is notably where Alexander Parkes invented the world’s first plastic! Birmingham was, and indeed still is a city of firsts, a city where innovation and technological advances continue to take place, so to say I’m proud of my city is probably actually an understatement.