 This page may be refered to as:
www.birmingham.gov.uk/hom
Birmingham's Hall of Memory was
erected in the 1920s (before Baskerville House, in front of which it now
stands) to commemorate the 12,320 Birmingham citizens who died in the
"Great War", which we now know as the First World War (a further 35,000
Birmingham men came home from that war with a disability).
The
Hall, made from Portland Stone, from Portland Bill near Weymouth, was
opened by Prince Arthur of Connaught on July 4, 1925. It cost £60,000,
which was raised by public subscription.
Further memorials were
added after the Second World War, and for subsequent campaigns, including
Korea, Vietnam and the Falklands. |
 Around the exterior are four
allegorical bronze figures, by local artist Albert Toft,
representing the Army, Navy, Air Force and Women's Services.
Inside
the Hall are three Art Deco panels, "Call", "Front Line" and
"Return", by William Bloye, another local artist.
Opposite the Hall of Memory, outside what is now the Rep Theatre, stood a
"colonnade" of Portland Stone. When Centenary Square was created, this was
moved to the Peace Gardens (formerly St Thomas' church) in Bath Row.
The Hall of Memory is open to the public every Mon - Sat (except for Christmas
Day), from 10 am to 4pm. For further information, please contact the
curator, Paul Ellis, on (0121) 303 2822.
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