Century Buildings

Details

BIRMINGHAM

997/0/10368 SUMMER HILL ROAD 29-APR-04 35-38 Century Buildings

GV II Manufactory. c.1901, by Hipkiss Stephens, architects, of Birmingham incorporating a dwelling of c.1794, with later C20 alterations and additions.
Red brick with ashlar and terracotta dressings with slate roof coverings.
PLAN: Evolved E-shaped plan, incorporating a c.1794 house forming part of east range with extensions to north and south, and with later parallel ranges extending northwards from Summer Hill Road frontage.
EXTERIOR: Summer Hill Road frontage of 8 bays with angled corner at junction with Powell Street. 3 storeys rising from a shallow blue brick plinth, pier and panel construction with the bays delineated by shallow pilasters with recessed centres which rise through the facade from a wide moulded terracotta frieze and dentilled cornice. They terminate at a shallow parapet. At bay 1 to the left hand end, a double doorway with C20 3-panel doors and tall overlight within a quoined surround. Moulded string forms cill band to ground floor windows further right, beyond wide vehicle entrance to enclosed yard. Further right, inserted C20 doorway with canopy and 4 windows with C20 frames. Above, window openings diminish in height, with wide terracotta lintel bands and narrow moulded cill bands. The 3 bays to the east, together with the corner bay and the 3 southern bays to the Powell Street frontage carry more ornament than the plainer bays to the west.
Powell Street frontage with blocked doorway to the angled corner now forming a window, with quoined surrounds to windows above. Parapet with segmental pediment bearing inscription. 3 bays to the left match those to the Summer Hill Road frontage. Further right, the modified side elevation of the former c.1794 house, rising from an ashlar plinth, and with a hipped roof. 3 bays, 3 storeys with window openings beneath rubbed brick flat arched heads. Cill band to first floor openings, ashlar eaves cornice and shallow parapet. Lower 2 storey 3-bay addition to the right contemporary with the 1901 frontage building. A 2-bay workshop wing to the rear links with an 8 bay 3-storeyed workshop range extending from the rear of the Summmer Hill Road frontage. This has multi-pane workshop windows beneath shallow segmental arched heads, with a return wing to the north end housing toilets and a covered metal staircase.
HISTORY: The c.1794 house is thought to have been built for the Oughton family, and was occupied from C.1810 by Henry Adcock, jeweller, gilt toymaker and button and bead manufacturer. In 1901, the site was purchased by Messrs Ahronsberg Brothers, Jewellers who converted the premises to a goldsmiths and jewellery manufactory.
SOURCES: Cattell,J Ely,S and Jones,B 2002. The Birmingham Jewellery Quarter: An Architectural Survey of the Manufactories.

An early C20 manufactory with extensive workshop provision, and incorporating a house of c.1794 later converted to industrial use. One of a small number of survivals where C18 and early C19 housing survives within a later manufactory development. Such sites demonstrate the change from residential to industrial use, and the subsequent intensification of industrial use which characterised the development of the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter, a specialist manufacturing district now recognised as being of international significance.

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