FORMER GAS RETORT HOUSE, RETORT HOUSE EXTENSION TO SOUTH WEST AND ATTACHED STORE

FORMER GAS RETORT HOUSE, RETORT HOUSE EXTENSION TO SOUTH WEST AND ATTACHED STORE, 39, BERKLEY STREET

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II*
List Entry Number:: 1234330
Date first listed:: 30-Jun-1993
List Entry Name:: FORMER GAS RETORT HOUSE, RETORT HOUSE EXTENSION TO SOUTH WEST AND ATTACHED STORE
Statutory Address:: FORMER GAS RETORT HOUSE, RETORT HOUSE EXTENSION TO SOUTH WEST AND ATTACHED STORE, 39, BERKLEY STREET

User submitted image — Uploaded by ChurchCare This photo may not represent the current condition of the site
View all

Location

Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.

There is a problem

Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions.

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.

What is the National Heritage List for England?

The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.

The list includes:

🏠 Buildings
🏰 Scheduled monuments
🌳 Parks and gardens
⚔️ Battlefields
⚓ Shipwrecks

Find out more about listing

Images of England Project

To view this image please use Firefox, Chrome, Safari, or Edge.

Archive image, may not represent current condition of site.

Date:: 2001-06-24
Reference:: IOE01/00017/15
Rights:: © Mr Geoff Dowling. Source: Historic England Archive

Historic England Archive

Search over 1 million photographs and drawings from the 1850s to the present day using our images archive.

Find Photos

Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II*
List Entry Number:: 1234330
Date first listed:: 30-Jun-1993
Date of most recent amendment:: 21-Jan-1994
List Entry Name:: FORMER GAS RETORT HOUSE, RETORT HOUSE EXTENSION TO SOUTH WEST AND ATTACHED STORE
Statutory Address 1:: FORMER GAS RETORT HOUSE, RETORT HOUSE EXTENSION TO SOUTH WEST AND ATTACHED STORE, 39, BERKLEY STREET
Statutory Address 2:: FORMER GAS RETORT HOUSE, RETORT HOUSE EXTENSION TO SOUTH WEST AND ATTACHED STORE, 39, GAS STREET

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:: FORMER GAS RETORT HOUSE, RETORT HOUSE EXTENSION TO SOUTH WEST AND ATTACHED STORE, 39, BERKLEY STREET
Statutory Address:: FORMER GAS RETORT HOUSE, RETORT HOUSE EXTENSION TO SOUTH WEST AND ATTACHED STORE, 39, GAS STREET

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: Birmingham (Metropolitan Authority)
Parish:: Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:: SP 06246 86513

Details

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 11/02/2013

SP 0686 NW 32/10036 30.6.93

BIRMINGHAM GAS STREET (south west side) Number 39 Former Gas Retort House, retort house extension to south-west and attached store

(Formerly listed as Former Gas Retort House)

II*

Former gas retort house, retort house extension and attached store, now workshops, empty at the time of the inspection. 1822, for the Birmingham Gas Light and Coke Company, retort house extension with attached store 1828. Part of one of the earliest provincial gas works. Altered late C19 and in C20. Red brick beneath a corrugated iron roof covering, carved on a roof structure of cast iron roof trusses, linked by transverse and longtitudinal wrought iron tie rods. L-shaped plan now much modified internally, with narrow frontage to Gas Street. North-east elevation; rendered and painted facade, with blind recess to north-west beneath elliptical arch, and tall double doorway to south-east with flat head. Shallow parapet above moulded cornice band conceals roof hip. Side walls substantially artexed, south west sidewall originally substantially an open arcade, supported by slender cast iron columns, three of which survive, incorporated in later back infilling, which contains blocked semi- circular headed arches. North west side wall with three blocked doorways and a semi-circular headed window north west end of cross range with C20 openings. Interior main range of 11 structural bays and a five bay cross range extending north westwards. 2 piece cast-iron trusses, bolted together to form a 35 foot span the outer ends supported on flat cast-iron plates set within the brick walling or mounted on the tops of the cast-iron columns. Diagonal lattice work web links inclined upper members to segmentally arched soffit. The trusses are linked longtitudinally by a cruciform section central purlin bolted to the central lap joints of the trusses. Modified truss castings are used for the hipped ends, and, at the junction of the two ranges, a large diagonal truss spans the diagonal angle. Horizontal wrought-iron tensioned tie rods link truss feet. Inclined upper face of trusses notched or toothed to accept metal roof lathes which were wedged in position, and to which the original roofing slates were attached. Extension to retort house at south-west end of 5 bays with 4 cast-iron trusses of slightly modified design, mounted on cast-iron wall plates. To the north side of the extension was added a 5-bay single storeyed building, thought to have been a coal store. The roof is carried on 4 stutted queen-post trusses supported on brick sidewall piers The queen posts extended above the line of the original roof covering and appear to have carried a louvre. History: The former Gas Street gas works was established in 1818, the retort house being the only survivor of the complex for which the consultant engineer was Samuel Cleg (1781-1861), the first specialist gas engineer. The innovative metal roof structure is now a rare example of the early advances in metal roof design made in the early C19. This example is a combination of wrought and cast-iron constructional techniques, designed to prevent the internal thrust of the trusses being transmitted to the side walls, an important factor on the design of a roof which had to withstand the high temperatures generated in the gas making process. The components for the roof structure are thought to have been produced in the Phoenix Foundry, Snowhill, Birmingham. Empty at the time of inspection. Former Gas Works, Gas Street, Birmingham. RCHM 1993.

Listing NGR: SP0624686513

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: 410202
Legacy System:: LBS

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.