Paradise Place
By Stuart Whipps

Birmingham has never been afraid of knocking itself to pieces, but for a big chunk of my life the imposing sculptural form of Birmingham Central Library, sitting high on a natural ridge at the civic heart of the city, was a constant presence. It was as much a point of orientation as a building. Then again, an earlier generation would probably have said exactly the same thing about the Victorian library that stood there before it. In Birmingham, buildings rarely survive long enough for the people who use them to persuade anybody else that they’re worth keeping.

Birmingham Central Library was demolished in 2016, little more than 40 years after it opened. It spent less time in the city than I have, but on my journeys through the city centre I’m still often surprised at its absence.