Birmingham Town Hall: The 1834 Hall on Victoria Square, and Its Seats
Birmingham Town Hall has misled visitors since the day it opened, because it was never a seat of government. It was commissioned as a concert hall for the town's triennial music festival, and the first performance took place on 7 October 1834, in a building still years away from completion.
The design came from a competition won by Joseph Hansom and Edward Welch, and its model is the Temple of Castor and Pollux in the Roman Forum. A Corinthian colonnade runs around a high rusticated base, so the hall stands clear above Victoria Square rather than settling down into the pavement around it.
The building and its marble
The columns are faced in marble quarried at Penmon on Anglesey, shipped across and cut for the job, which was an extraordinary undertaking for a provincial town in the 1830s. The ambition is the point: Birmingham was asserting something with this building, and the material was part of the argument.
Hansom went bankrupt on the contract and left the project, later inventing the cab that carries his name.
The hall itself was finished in stages over decades, with concerts continuing throughout, which is the reason photographs taken in different periods show a building that never quite looks the same way twice.
What has been performed there
The festival the hall was built for drew composers to the city, and Mendelssohn conducted the first performance of Elijah here in 1846.
For much of the nineteenth century this was one of the more significant concert platforms in the country, and a great deal of choral repertoire reached England through it.
It has also always been a public room. Political meetings, rallies and lectures filled it between concerts, and the same hall that premiered oratorios heard arguments about franchise reform.
That double life is unusual for a concert room and it explains the plainness of the interior compared with a purpose-built theatre.
Visiting Birmingham Town Hall today
The hall closed for years and reopened in 2007 after a restoration that took it back to something close to its original form, with a capacity of around 1,086. It now runs a broad programme of classical, folk, rock and spoken-word events under the same management as Symphony Hall down the road.
Victoria Square puts it six minutes from New Street station, with the Council House facing it and the Museum and Art Gallery immediately behind in Chamberlain Square.
Anyone with a free afternoon can take in all three of them, and the walk between them is a few hundred metres of level pavement.
Before booking a seat it helps to know the shape of the room. The hall was built for choral festivals and public meetings, the seating rises in tiers, and the organ fills the view from most of them. Anyone who already knows Symphony Hall will find this room smaller, older and a good deal more intimate.
The city's larger modern room is covered on Symphony Hall, the full range on venues in Birmingham, and the surrounding civic architecture on Birmingham's historical buildings. Staying within a few minutes of the square is covered on hotels in Birmingham city centre, and the wider list on Birmingham hotels by area.
Questions about Birmingham Town Hall
When did Birmingham Town Hall open?
On 7 October 1834, although the building was not finished for years afterwards and work continued around the performances. It was commissioned as a concert hall for the triennial music festival rather than as a seat of government, which is why the name misleads almost every visitor who reads it.
What is Birmingham Town Hall modelled on?
It follows the Temple of Castor and Pollux in the Roman Forum. Joseph Hansom and Edward Welch won the design competition with a scheme that lifts a Corinthian colonnade onto a high rusticated base, so that the hall stands clear above the square instead of sitting down low into it.
How many people does Birmingham Town Hall hold?
Around 1,086 people after its restoration, which is well below the crowds it took in the nineteenth century when standing was normal. The smaller figure suits the room: it is a hall built for choral societies and for public meetings, and both of those work better at the modern capacity.
Is Birmingham Town Hall still used for concerts?
Yes, it does. It reopened in 2007 after a long closure and a major restoration, and it now runs a full programme of classical, folk, rock and spoken-word events. It sits under the same management as Symphony Hall, a few minutes west along Broad Street, and the two programmes are planned together.
Where is Birmingham Town Hall?
On Victoria Square, in the civic centre of the city between the Council House and New Street. It is about six minutes on foot from New Street station, and the Museum and Art Gallery stands immediately behind it in Chamberlain Square, which makes both easy to combine in one visit.
Figures and dates here follow bmusic.co.uk, checked 14 September 2026. It carries the detail in full.