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Seat Of Power, Phallus Daubings, Huge Clocks.

Strolled down to Highbury Hall: This grade II listed Gothic manor house was the home and political power base of one of modern Birmingham's founding fathers; Joseph Chamberlain, the politician, industrialist (instrumental in the founding of industrial giant GKN), mayor of Birmingham, father of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, and Nobel Peace Prize winner Austen, and the only Tory (well, he was until this death, after splitting both of the major parties) that I have (grudging) respect for, apart from one time Moseley resident Kenneth Clarke (jazz, cigars) and John Major (Maastricht, boning Edwina Currie). 
The house, built in 1880, was his home until his death in 1914. During that time, he held positions including President of The Board Of Trade under Gladstone, Colonial Secretary under Balfour; a period in which he became dominant in British politics, supported the founding of the London School of Tropical Medicine in 1899, and instigated the Boer War. 
Numerous attempts were made to form an Anglo-German defensive alliance from here (see image below), beginning in 1898, initially to counter a threat from China.

He also found time to become Birmingham Uni's first Chancellor (old Joe, the clock tower on the campus, is named in his honour and is the largest free-standing clock tower in the world).

A controversial (particularly due to his opposition to Irish Home rule), and widely known as a rude, unpleasant, arrogant figure, he was undoubtedly a great social reformer, and casts a long shadow over politics generally, and that of Birmingham especially, to this day. 
This phallus, as seen here on the viewing gallery of the Highbury Estate, is understood to have been daubed by Bernhard von Bülow, Chancellor of Germany, in protest about Chamberlain's arrogant approach towards alliance negotiations.
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