Most of the books one expects to find on England's second city's built environment have not been written. Andy Foster's fine Pevsner Architectural Guide: Birmingham (Yale, 2005) aside, there have been no other notable academic efforts. Given the scope of demolition as Birmingham's Victorian architecture succumbed to planning and progress after World War II, it is logical that this welcome study focuses on the architects rather than simply extant architecture. The Birmingham and West Midlands Group of the Victorian Society has therefore commissioned this volume celebrating many prominent architects, including those whose works do not survive. After an introduction from Ballard, the work is divided into four sections, starting with ‘The early Victorian town’. Peter Baird suggests, writing about Charles Edge, that his ‘work illustrates how a Georgian town became a Victorian city’ (p. 25). These opening sections mirror this: they do not just tell the story of architecture, but of buildings, of private homes and the public institutions of the city. They follow the transformation from Street Commission to Corporation, and then on to the ‘The age of the civic gospel’, underpinned with a clear narrative on the governance of the town. For non-architectural urban historians, this is arguably some of the most engaging material in the book. The final two sections look at how Birmingham was decorated in the late Victorian and Edwardian period with terracotta, and by the Arts and Crafts Movement; even if it is hard to get a sense of scale of these embellishments, many fine examples are discussed.

The chapters are reliable if formulaic: a few lines on the importance of each architect, an outline of some biographical details and career, a bit more detail on some important buildings, and a list of major works, divided into public and private, inside and outside Birmingham. This is generally executed successfully, with a useful end result. Arguably, Chris Upton's essay is among the best. Not only is it the most thematic, but also the most broadly historical. Starting with a clear grounding in the social space and impact of the public house, he looks at the works of James and Lister Lea. This is the kind of essay in this collection which is most useful, as it provides a history of the architecture of the individual buildings, of the partnership and a more general social history. Social, urban and architectural historians might all make good use of this thoughtful reflection.

Modern Birmingham represents some of the worst excesses of post-war planning; the bracketed ‘D’ found after so many of the buildings in the lists of works attests to this. Hartland cannot help but eulogize: ‘It is to be regretted that many of [Ward's] buildings were demolished in the 1960s, when all that was Victorian was considered unfashionable and unworthy of retention’ (p. 271). But just as there was a time when pulling down Victorian buildings, which had fallen out of vogue, was common, so we presently have a similar relationship with the brutalist and modernist visions in concrete which replaced them. A clearer understanding of what was lost then may help the general public to empathize with modern conservation officers, currently grappling with the protection of unpopular 1960s buildings.

Illustrations are a major strength of the book. To rely exclusively on modern photographs is a temptation, as they are cheap and specific. But these are of limited value, given that they age so quickly, and can only document extant buildings. This volume has avoided sole reliance on such, and makes substantial use of material from a number of archives. Many of the modern pictures are imperfect, perhaps being slightly askew or having odd colouring. Moor Pool Estate tennis courts were photographed through a fence, part of which is blurrily in the foreground. The upside is that this lack of computer editing adds to the reliability of the images. The notation of listing classifications is inconsistent: some buildings are said to be Grade II* (p. 356), whilst others are Grade 2* (p. 329). None of this detracts from the scholarship or utility of the book.

We might wonder at exactly whom this collection is aimed. For architectural historians, only a cursory introduction to any single architect is offered, even if, as in many cases, it constitutes the sum of the scholarship on that subject. It is surely too dense and too heavy for casual readers, and the pictures are generally too small for the coffee-table market. For historians of the city it offers handy reference, and a solid point of departure for more in-depth research. This is a collection of good essays; it might have been a good collection of essays.