Five Ways Birmingham 1956
This picture by Peter Shoesmith shows Five Ways in Birmingham around Christmas 1956 (there is an advert for something 'Boxing Day' to the left).
Peter was standing at the end of Broad Street with Hagley Road directly ahead, Harborne Road to the left (it is not obvious but Calthorpe Road also joined here) and to the right at the side of the large building* Ladywood Road made the fifth of the Five Ways.
The corner of Harborne Road has some underground public lavatories surrounded by cast iron railings and surmounted by a gas lit archway, visible between the two ladies in this picture. I have dated the picture by the cars, the newest being a Ford Zephyr visible between the Austin Somerset and the parked A30. Roadsigns are all period with the flaming torch of education on the school sign, enamel Keep Left bollards, and old style traffic lights there is charming collection of street lights.
*The building mentioned above was The Birmingham & Edgbaston Proprietary School, established in 1838 for the sons of wealthy non-conformists. The Elizabethan styled building was designed by Hugh Smith and opened in 1841. The main building was faced with red bricks with stone dressings. The building is better remembered as King Edward's Grammar School, Five Ways, a role it performed from 1883 until the school moved out in 1958.
Today a huge underpass exists here and the buildings to the right sacrified to both the road system and Tricorn House.
Peter Shoesmith
Copyright Geoff Dowling & John Whitehouse; all rights reserved
Five Ways Birmingham 1956
This picture by Peter Shoesmith shows Five Ways in Birmingham around Christmas 1956 (there is an advert for something 'Boxing Day' to the left).
Peter was standing at the end of Broad Street with Hagley Road directly ahead, Harborne Road to the left (it is not obvious but Calthorpe Road also joined here) and to the right at the side of the large building* Ladywood Road made the fifth of the Five Ways.
The corner of Harborne Road has some underground public lavatories surrounded by cast iron railings and surmounted by a gas lit archway, visible between the two ladies in this picture. I have dated the picture by the cars, the newest being a Ford Zephyr visible between the Austin Somerset and the parked A30. Roadsigns are all period with the flaming torch of education on the school sign, enamel Keep Left bollards, and old style traffic lights there is charming collection of street lights.
*The building mentioned above was The Birmingham & Edgbaston Proprietary School, established in 1838 for the sons of wealthy non-conformists. The Elizabethan styled building was designed by Hugh Smith and opened in 1841. The main building was faced with red bricks with stone dressings. The building is better remembered as King Edward's Grammar School, Five Ways, a role it performed from 1883 until the school moved out in 1958.
Today a huge underpass exists here and the buildings to the right sacrified to both the road system and Tricorn House.
Peter Shoesmith
Copyright Geoff Dowling & John Whitehouse; all rights reserved