Birmingham skylines and views- Library of Birmingham, Bull Ring, Selfridges, 10 Holloway Circus, Beetham Tower, Snow Hill, Chamberlain Square, Centenary Square, Hyatt Regency, BT Tower
There are also a lot of grey modernist highrise buildings, around 30 floors tall, around central Birmingham. They look dull and were built in the 1960s or 70s, and some of them have been torn down due to impopularity and bad conditions. Thus Birmingham had a significant skyline ever since the late 1960s, but not until the 2000s many of the better looking international style skyscrapers where built. The landmark of the Bull Ring is the 23-storey Rotunda, a circular office highrise from 1965 that was the city's tallest skyscraper for 5 years. In the early 2000s it was recladded with a more attractive green glass design. Colmore Gate is a postmodern highrise from 1992, situated in the Snow Hill business district, where several other skyscrapers are under construction. The Cube is a futuristic looking mixed use highrise, situated between the Mailbox and the canal. There are many churches in the city, not particulary tall though. St Martin in the Bull Ring is 61 m tall and the St Philip's Cathedral is somewhat lower. Despite the large number of tall towers, Birmingham does not feature any high observation decks, not even in the BT Tower. The rooftop deck of the 10-storey postmodern, high tech Library of Birmingham at Centenary Square (built in 2013), and the parking garage at the futuristic Selfridges store in the Bull Ring, were the best spots we could find to watch the skyline from above. Guests at the Hyatt Regency, The Rotunda and other tall hotels can also enjoy great views of Birmingham. |