St Paul's Square, Birmingham

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St Paul's, grid reference SP064874, is a church and a Georgian square in the Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham, England.

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[edit] St Paul's Church

St Paul's Church
St Paul's Church

Designed by Roger Eykyn of Wolverhampton, building started in 1777, and the church was consecrated in 1779. It was built on land given by Charles Colmore from his Newhall estate. It was the church of Birmingham's early manufacturers and merchants - Matthew Boulton and James Watt had their own pews, which were bought and sold as commodities at that time.

It is a rectangular church, similar in appearance to St Martin in the Fields, London. The spire was added in 1823 by Francis Goodwin. The church has excellent acoustics and has long given concerts. The organ came from the Town Hall in 1838. The east window has an important 1791 stained glass window designed by Benjamin West and made by Francis Eginton. It shows the Conversion of St Paul. Unusually it consists of two layers of glass, each painted on the inside.

The church is a Grade I listed building.

[edit] St Paul's Square

Built 1777-79 on the Newhall estate of the Colmore family. It was an elegant and desirable location in the mid 19th century. At the end of the 19th century the square was swallowed by workshops and factories, with the fronts of some buildings being pulled down to make shop fronts or factory entrances. Much restoration was done in the 1970s and many of the buildings are now Grade II listed (Nos 1, 3, 4, 5, 11, 12-14, 24, 35-39, 42a, 55).

The square is served by St Paul's tram stop.

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Coordinates: 52.4852° N 1.9058° W