00:00Welcome to Victoria Square, a place at Birmingham Centre which has been reinvented more than once
00:07over the years. Before the grand buildings and fountains this was open land on the edge of a
00:13growing town. The first major building here was Christchurch. Work began in 1805 and it opened
00:19eight years later. The church stood on land which now forms part of Victoria Square, its spire,
00:25a familiar sight above the streets. By the end of the 19th century the congregation had moved away
00:31from the centre. Christchurch was demolished in 1899 and it became Christchurch buildings,
00:37a block of shops and offices which included the famous Lyons Coffee House. That block,
00:44along with neighbouring buildings, was demolished in 1970. In its place came a grass slope in front
00:50of the Council House, another major transformation. The surviving landmarks tell their own story.
00:57Birmingham Town Hall opened in 1834, designed by Joseph Hanson and Edward Welch. Its classical columns
01:04were inspired by ancient Roman architecture and the building has hosted politicians and musicians.
01:10Across the square is Council House, built between 1874 and 1879 to designs by Yeovil Thomason.
01:18It was later extended to house Birmingham's art collection and its clock tower and dome still
01:24dominate the view. The space in front of them was once called Council House Square. In January 1901,
01:32it was renamed Victoria Square in honour of Queen Victoria. A statue of the monarch was unveiled here
01:38just days before her death and the bronze figure still remains a focal point today. For much of the
01:4520th century, this was not the pedestrian square we know. Trams ran through it and the buses and traffic
01:50made it one of Birmingham's busiest routes. By the late 1980s, the city had decided it needed a different
01:56future. Redevelopment began in 1992, closing the roads and creating the civic space seen today. It was
02:04opened by Diana, Princess of Wales in May 1993. The centrepiece? Deruva Mystery's sculpture and water feature,
02:12the river. Birmingham quickly gave it another name, the floozy in the jacuzzi. The reclining
02:18figure, pools and cascades made it one of the city's best known pieces of public art. But repeated
02:24links and the cost of repairs means the water was switched off in 2013 and for years the pools were
02:30planted instead. After refurbishment, the fountain returned to working order ahead of the Commonwealth
02:36Games in 2022. Today, tram lines cross the square bringing new generations through the space. There's
02:44now a tram stop directly outside the Town Hall while Birmingham New Street Station is only moments away.
02:50So next time you're in the city centre, pause here, look around and see how centuries of Birmingham history meet.
