Description:In this aerial view of the junction of Spring Hill (to the left) and Icknield Street (to the right) Spring Hill Library stands grandly in the centre, hemmed in by somewhat less grand Victorian development. The light-coloured building with the bow front, opposite the library, is the Palace Cinema in Summer Hill Road which had begun life as a theatre in 1905 and became a cinema in 1911. After bomb damage in 1941 it became part of the factory of aluminium ware manufacturers Bulpitt & Sons. This 1920s photograph gives an idea of the dense pattern of building before redevelopment and the conversion of Monument Road (bottom left) into Ladywood Middleway. The construction of a major new junction left the library in splendid isolation.