Herbert Manzoni

Sir Herbert John Baptista Manzoni CBE MICE (21 March 1899 – 18 November 1972) was a British civil engineer and surveyor known for holding the position of City Engineer and Surveyor of Birmingham 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, resulted in the wholesale destruction of Birmingham's magnificent Victorian and Georgian architecture, and completely changed the image of the city of Birmingham.

Among the most notable buildings destroyed as part of Manzoni's redevelopment of Birmingham and the creation of the inner ring road were Pugin's Bishop's House, the Victorian Central Library designed by J. H. Chamberlain, the Gothic Revivalist-style Mason Science College, Birmingham Market Hall, the Central Technical College, and the Suffolk Street Technical College, among others.

Though he was knighted and respected in his time for his work redeveloping Birmingham, later reception, particularly among architectural conservationists, has been much more critical. Other criticism has focused on the alleged negative impact of this redevelopment on working class and ethnic minority communities in Birmingham through its focus on privately-owned cars and high-density high-rise accommodation. Nevertheless, some credit him with improving the zoning and layout of the city and bringing it into the 20th century.

Life Manzoni was born in Birkenhead, the son of a Milanese sculptor, and was educated both in Birkenhead and Liverpool. 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. Manzoni took advantage of the Housing Act of 1936 to designate of land in Duddeston and Nechells 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.

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 and the walls of the original Birmingham Market Hall (its roof having been lost during WWII).

The controversial 1974 Birmingham Central Library (now demolished) by John Madin Design Group which replaced a Victorian building on an adjacent site.

Manzoni's most famous utterance on the city's architecture neatly encapsulates his attitudes:

Manzoni's plan for Birmingham's inner ring road, from the Birmingham Corporation Inner Ring Road Key Plan (1946). This was largely built as proposed, albeit without the central axis along Colmore Row.

An urban motorway system was also launched by Manzoni. This had been advocated by William Haywood in his 1918 book, The Development of Birmingham. and an Outer Ring Road was also designated. Following the demolition of parts of the Inner Ring Road, Birmingham City Centre 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, 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.

Manzoni retired from Birmingham in 1963 to Herefordshire, but soon returned to the city of Birmingham. He died of cancer at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Edgbaston, on 18 November 1972.