Council House

Looks as if TS initials are for Thomas Sharp then, Annewiggy.

The proposed building was in "Tudor Style" faced in stone and decorated with bay windows, turrets, and a clock tower.

The police station doesn't look like it was there in its stone format on the 1850 map although there was a police station about half way along St Mary's Street or Half Moon Lane as it was called then. It looks like it was brick (although it could be a skin on an older building). On the Fire Insurance maps it says that it was 'Under construction July 1897'. Probably later than we expected? There's a rather nice sketch of it in the library (search - police Mary). There have been changes since then, including a new storey but that might have been post bombing.

But tell me, what did the hundreds of working men think of the building in 1920? What did the returning soldiers think of the expense of the building when they could hardly get a penny for their injured state that stopped them working? In the 1950's we did not have this great forum, or anything like it, there was little information out there, so I asked my grandad. I believe for a time it was called the Tudor House, and people liked that, it was in harmony with its surroundings but they feared in the long run they would have to pay for it. I also think there were some demonstrations by ex-soldiers but I could be wrong about what he told me (memory).

They think what we all think, that the latest council spendathon is an overambitious waste of money when we can least afford it. Then 50 years later they or their kids are outraged that the council wants to update it or worse, knock it down and start again.

I am of the persuasion that the Council House is an adornment to Coventry, so let us hope, if the University take it over, they will respect and value it as a statement of its time, just on the turn of the new century. With the other council buildings in St Mary's Hall it is something worth keeping.

I'm reminded of the old "joke" - which would probably now be outlawed - of the immigrant from the sub-continent newly arrived by coach into Pool Meadow, walking up Priory Street into Bayley Lane and on into Earl Street. He asked a passer-by what the large building was. "Council House" came the reply. "Good grief! I've got my name down for one of those!"

NeilsYard, it really gripes me when things can be sold, when really the people of the city paid for them with higher rates, and in this case mostly the men from the WWI.

Here is a view of Cathedral in 1919 with the caption "To the left of the picture is a collection of towers from an unidentified building. At the time the picture was taken the First World War had just finished." In my opinion these 'unidentified towers' could be the Council House from the photographer's stance. The spire then would be Christ Church in the distance.

Superb photos with the bridge gone at last!!

This is the view today of the replacement window where the bridge had slotted in.

A pic without the window, after the bridge removal.

IMHO, it looks far better without the bridge. The "Civic 3" was built in the seventies, immediately after the council tower block in Much Park St. (William Moss were the main contractors for both projects). It is beyond me what the planners were thinking of. That bridge was just not in keeping with the Council House's architecture, and, shades of Prince Charles, stuck out like a carbuncle on the backside of humanity. It was plonked on like an afterthought. It wasn't level, and was at an odd skewed angle. It was clad in panels that looked like scrapped metal sheets with a lick of brown paint. I don't wish to labour the point, but it was an insult to normal human beings. The sooner the new window frame stonework weathers to blend in with the rest of the building, thus eradicating all trace of that accursed bridge, the better. I daresay some will not share my opinion.

Well Slim I certainly do. A fine building like the Council House treated by planners/Council in such a way is appalling, and all to keep them dry when it was raining!

There is an error in my previous post. I said "like an afterthought". Of course, it was an afterthought.