page_title: Paradise, Birmingham
section_title: Manzoni and Madin
hierarchical_section_title: Paradise, Birmingham / History / Manzoni and Madin
caption_attribution_description: English: Congreve House connecting Birmingham Central Library to the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. Built as part of the masterplan for Paradise Circus in 1971-74 by John Madin.
context_page_description: Paradise, formerly named Paradise Circus, is the name given to an area of approximately 7 hectares in Birmingham city centre between Chamberlain and Centenary Squares. The area has been part of the civic centre of Birmingham, England since the 19th century when it contained buildings such as the Town Hall, Mason Science College, Birmingham and Midland Institute buildings and Central Library. The site was redeveloped from 1960 to 1975 into the present Paradise Circus based within a roundabout on the Inner Ring Road system containing a new Central Library and School of Music. From 2015 Argent Group will redevelop the area into new mixed use buildings and public squares.
context_section_description: After the war the idea to create a grand civic centre was still greeted with enthusiasm. Herbert Manzoni, who was appointed City Engineer and Surveyor in 1935, developed a plan for an Inner Ring Road between 1942 and 1952 and presented them in the publication Birmingham: 50 Years On. This plan for an urban motorway running through the centre of Birmingham came to fruition when Smallbrook Ringway began construction in 1957. The Inner Ring Road would in between 1960-1971 create Paradise Circus as it is today as the central island in a gyratory roundabout. A tunnel was created beneath the site forming the Queensway Tunnel between Great Charles Street and Suffolk Street. Paradise Circus Queensway effectively formed a roundabout around the site running on what was Easy Row and Ratcliff Place to the west of the Town Hall.
  In combination with Manzoni’s highway plans John Madin produced the Paradise Circus masterplan in 1965. Madin designed the Central Library as the centrepiece part of a large civic centre scheme on the newly created Paradise Circus site. The library was constructed between 1971-1973 with the old Central Library demolished soon after. The space created from demolition allowed the School of Music and Fletcher’s Walk shopping arcade to be built south of the library. Originally planned to be built alongside the library was a School of Music, Drama Centre, Athletic Institute, offices, shops, public house, a car park with 500 spaces and a bus interchange.
  The collection of civic buildings were all to be connected by high level walkways and the network of galleries which bridge the roads. The School of Music and a public house (The Yardbird) were the only other buildings in the original plans to be built and the only high level walkways completed was Congreve House which connected the library to the Birmingham Art Gallery but it was never used for its intended purpose and became office space. The council failed to implement the original plan for Paradise Circus. Spending cuts led to the council's decision to sell off the land surrounding the library, ending the vision of a publicly financed and owned civic centre occupying the entire site.
  A 200-seat Library Theatre was built between the School of Music and the reference library block in 1983–86. The theatre was a design and build scheme by Henry Boot Projects. Although the design was in Madin’s original plans, he had no involvement in the construction phase. Chamberlain House and the Copthorne Hotel were built to the west of the library in 1985–87 with wedge shaped ends. To the north of the library where an Athletic Institute was originally to be built a six-storey office block (77 Paradise Circus) was built in 1988–89. A footbridge connecting the library with Centenary Square was added as part of improvements to the square in 1988–89, replacing a pedestrian subway. The roadway was lowered at the same time. The library's atrium was enclosed with a glass roof and screens by the City Architect’s Department in 1989–91. The space below was named Paradise Forum, originally proposed as an alfresco eating and entertainment area but eventually leased to property companies who sublet the units to shops and fast food outlet tenants such as McDonald's, J D Wetherspoon, Greggs and Nando's. The uncompleted bus interchange became service areas for the tenants of Paradise Forum.
caption: One of the high level walkways separating pedestrians from traffic
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