Herbert Manzoni
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Sir Herbert John Baptista Manzoni
CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
MICE A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...
(21 March 1899 – 18 November 1972) was a
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civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...
known for holding the position of City Engineer and Surveyor of
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
from 1935 until 1963. This position put him in charge of all municipal works and his influence on the city, especially following
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, completely changed the image of Birmingham.


Life

Manzoni was born in
Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...
, the son of a
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ese
sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
, and was educated both in Birkenhead and
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
. He moved to Birmingham in 1923 and became an engineering assistant in the Sewers and Rivers Department. He became Chief Engineer for the department four years later. Unlike many other cities, planning and architectural issues came largely under the control of the city's Chief Engineer. In 1935, Herbert Humphries retired from his post as City Surveyor and Manzoni took over the post at the age of 36. In 1941, Manzoni anticipated the damage that would be caused by the
Birmingham Blitz The Birmingham Blitz was the The Blitz, heavy bombing by the Nazi German ''Luftwaffe'' of the city of Birmingham and surrounding towns in central England, beginning on 9 August 1940 as a fraction of the greater The Blitz, Blitz, which was par ...
and, in October 1941, announced the creation of four advisory panels within the council to focus upon Housing, Traffic, Redevelopment Areas and Limitation of the city. A 1938 report identified that there was a serious housing shortage that still needed to be addressed in Birmingham. Manzoni launched a citywide
slum clearance Slum clearance, slum eviction or slum removal is an urban renewal strategy used to transform low-income settlements with poor reputation into another type of development or housing. This has long been a strategy for redeveloping urban communities; ...
scheme, and replaced the housing with high density schemes consisting of
tower block A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdiction. ...
s. He used the Town and Country Planning Act 1944 (to which he contributed) to designate redevelopment areas in Birmingham. Manzoni took advantage of the Housing Act of 1936 to designate of land in Duddeston and
Nechells Nechells () is a district ward in central Birmingham, England, whose population in 2011 was 33,957. It is also a ward (politics), ward within the Government of Birmingham, England#Districts, formal district of Ladywood. Nechells local government ...
as a redevelopment area. This was approved in 1950. The first tower blocks to be built in the area were completed in 1954 and the entire scheme was completed in 1972. He also designated a further four in Newtown, Ladywood, Lee Bank, and
Highgate Highgate is a suburban area of N postcode area, north London in the London Borough of Camden, London Boroughs of Camden, London Borough of Islington, Islington and London Borough of Haringey, Haringey. The area is at the north-eastern corner ...
, totalling around . Together, they contained nearly 250,000 houses that were considered unfit for habitation and they were one half of the entire slum property in the city. The houses were purchased by the council using
Compulsory Purchase Order A compulsory purchase order (CPO; , ) is a legal function in the United Kingdom and Ireland that allows certain bodies to obtain land or property without the consent of the owner. It may be enforced if a proposed development is considered one for ...
s. Manzoni encouraged zoning of areas and redevelopment. He did not believe in the preservation of old buildings and saw their retention for sentimental purposes rather than valuable purposes. This was shown in his work which resulted in the loss of many old buildings and historic areas of the city. His attitudes became the orthodoxy and directly or indirectly led to the demolition of a number of much loved landmarks, such as the old
Birmingham Central Library Birmingham Central Library was the main public library in Birmingham, England, from 1974 until 2013, replacing a library opened in 1865 and rebuilt in 1882. For a time the largest non-national library in Europe, it closed on 29 June 2013 and was ...
and the walls of the original Birmingham Market Hall (its roof having been lost during WWII). Manzoni's most famous utterance on the city's architecture neatly encapsulates his attitudes: An urban motorway system was also launched by Manzoni. This had been advocated by William Haywood in his 1918 book, ''The Development of Birmingham''. Manzoni began planning an Inner Ring Road from 1943, and an Act of Parliament was passed in 1946 allowing construction to commence. The first section, Smallbrook Queensway, was not started until 1957 and was completed in 1960. The entire ring road was opened by Queen
Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
in 1971. Demolition of Masshouse Circus on the ring road began in March 2002 and further sections were demolished or demoted following it. The construction of the Inner Ring Road had resulted in the demolition of the remains of the Market Hall at the Bull Ring, the Central Library,
Mason Science College Mason Science College was a university college in Birmingham, England, and a predecessor college of the University of Birmingham. Founded in 1875 by industrialist and philanthropist Sir Josiah Mason, the college was incorporated into the Univer ...
and the Central Technical College. A Middle Ring Road was constructed following this, cutting through the
Jewellery Quarter The Jewellery Quarter is an area of central Birmingham, England, in the north-western area of Birmingham City Centre, with a population of 19,000 in a area. The Jewellery Quarter is Europe's largest concentration of businesses involved in the ...
, and an Outer Ring Road was also designated. Following the demolition of parts of the Inner Ring Road,
Birmingham City Centre Birmingham city centre, also known as Central Birmingham, is the central business district of Birmingham, England. The area was historically in Warwickshire. Following the removal of the Birmingham Inner Ring Road, Inner Ring Road, the city cent ...
is now considered to be the area within the Middle Ring Road. According to urban designer Nick Corbett, planners started realising from the 1980s that the Queensway "was stifling growth as well as having a rather brutal appearance." In February 1960, Manzoni was elected president of the
Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a Charitable organization, charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters ar ...
, a position he served in for 21 months instead of the customary year-long tenure due to the untimely death of his predecessor Arthur Hartley.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manzoni, Herbert Architects from Birmingham, West Midlands 1899 births 1972 deaths Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English civil engineers Knights Bachelor Presidents of the Institution of Civil Engineers People from Birkenhead Chancellors of Loughborough University