Birmingham Town Hall: An Architectural History

Birmingham Town Hall occupies a central place in the history of Britain's second city. Built in 1834 to champion and reflect Birmingham's civic achievements, the Town Hall's design was based on the form and style of a partially surviving Roman temple and involved architectural luminaries such as Sir John Soane. This is the first book to provide an accessible account of the building's construction and history. Grand and impressive, the Town Hall is a landmark building in the heart of the city of Birmingham and has played a major role in the city's musical, political, architectural and social history. Architectural historian Anthony Peers, who played a key part in the recent conservation of the Town Hall, discusses the construction of the building and the several subsequent schemes of alteration which were required over the following decades as the building's use evolved. He combines new site-based fabric recording and analysis with existing documentary sources to add greatly to our understanding of the building's construction. Birmingham Town Hall will be welcomed by architects, architectural historians, all those interested in local history and building conservation, and those for whom the Town Hall is a much-loved landmark in Birmingham. It provides fascinating insight into the history of the city and the architecture of one of its key landmarks.