It is the principal civic square in Birmingham and was created in 1870 during the redevelopment of Colmore Row in the 1870's.

The intention was to create a visual axis along Colmore Row from Birmingham Cathedral to the domed Council House which was built at the same time.

This plan did not entirely succeed because some buildings could not be demolished to create the correct alignments.

A vacant space was left in front of the Council House, which became known as council House Square.

This space was enlarged in 1902 when Christ Church (1798) was demolished, so that the square now opened out onto the lateral colonnade of Birmingham Town Hall which had been built in the style of a classical Roman Temple in the 1830's.

Council House Square was renamed Victoria Square after a statue of Queen Victoria was placed outside the Council House in 1901.

It was a busy tram terminus and traffic island at the junction of Colmore Row, New Street and Paradise Street until 1991 when it was transformed into a pedestrian plaza with a spectacular water feature called the River (aka the "Floozie in the Jacuzzi").

The Floozie in the Jacuzzi  is a naked stone woman who squats in a fountain bowl; the overflow trickles down a stepped slope to create the effect of a fast-flowing river.

The slope terminates in a bank of greenery lined by offices.

Several major employers are based on Victoria Square, including Birmingham City Council DLA Piper and Lloyds TSB who donated the rusting Iron:Man sculpture by Anthony Gormley which stands outside Birmingham Town Hall.

Victoria Square is connected by a short pedestrian walkway to the adjoining Chamberlain Square.

There was a mass brawl in Victoria Square on Sunday 25th April after Aston Villa were awarded a debatable penalty in a televised match against Birmingham City (News Archive 28/04/10).

It is named after Joseph Chamberlain, a former mayor of Birmingham (1873-76) who reduced infant mortality by improving the water supply.

The centrepiece of the square is the Chamberlain Memorial: a curious neo-Gothic monument set in a sunken hollow partially encircled by steps that recede outwards, like an amphitheatre.

This sunken space is dominated by Birmingham Town Hall: a colonnaded neo-classical building in the style of a Roman Temple.

The square is also fronted by the Museum and Art Gallery which features an impressive double Corinthian colonnade and incorporates Big Brum: a Victorian clock tower whose chimes can be heard throughout the city centre.

By contrast Birmingham Central Library, on the west side of the square, is a brutalist sixties creation that was constructed above Queensway in the 1960's.

Pedestrians can walk from Chamberlain Square through a precinct beneath the library and across a footbridge to Centenary Square in Westside.

Pedestrians can also walk from Chamberlain Square to the adjoining Victoria Square and from there to New Street in the Retail Quarter or Colmore Row in the Business Quarter.

Chamberlain Square contains Victorian statues of James Watt and Joseph Priestley and a modern sculpture of the 19th century political reformer Thomas Attood.