Details
SP 08 SE BIRMINGHAM MOSELEY ROAD 12/10219 Office Range
GV II
Built by Lowe & Son. Red facing brick, with ashlar dressings and Westmorland slate roofs. Renaissance Revival style. Plinth, buttresses, sill band, pierced balustrade, coped gables with finials. 2 and 3 storeys, 7 window range. T -plan. Ground floor openings mainly boarded. Windows mainly have stone cross-mullions and label moulds. Projecting gabled centre has Mannerist ashlar doorcase with pilasters, brackets, cornice and sham Office range and adjoining gateways at former tram depot.1906. By FB Osborn for Birmingham Corporation. Balustrade, and moulded round arched opening with double keystone and fanlight. Above, an ashlar oriel window, 1/3/1 lights, with balustrade. Round light with keystone surround in gable above. Side ranges have regular fenestration, 3 lights, with larger windows to the first floor. Beyond the inner windows, external buttress stacks with tall, ornamented coped flues. To left, a blank single bay projection with flat roof. Attached to the corner, a square gatepier with ashlar cap and ball finial, with slot for sliding gate. Similar piers to left, and at the right corner. Left return, 3 storeys, has boarded windows on the lower floors, and 2-light window above. Chamfered corner, corbelled at first floor level. Ri~ht return, 2 storeys, has a single off-centre ground floor window, and a central 3-light window above. In the gable peak, a .round opening with keystone surround. Rear elevation has projecting central bay with chamfered corners corbelled at first floor. 2-light window to first floor, and round window in gable. To left, ground floor windows covered by late C20 shelter. To right, a single storey projection with flat roof and canted corner, and 4 windows, one a steel casement. Door to right. Above, on each side, an external corridor with rendered finish, possibly concrete, carried on cast-iron brackets and with multiple small windows matching the main range. To right, a D-shaped stair enclosure, 2 storeys, rusticated, with rendered finish and conical slate roof. Single window on each floor, and door at foot. This enclosure is metal, probably cast iron, and contains a cast iron spiral stair. Above again, two 3-light windows on each side. Between the right windows, an external stack with ornamentation, minus the flue. INTERIOR: not accessible at time of survey. This office range was an architectural showpiece for a revitalised tram service, begun in Jan. 1907. It incorporated staff recreational and cultural facilities, as well as the usual depot offices.
Listing NGR: SP0780684056
