Summary
A pair of gate lodges and a time office of 1915 by William Haywood, of Buckland, Haywood and Farmer.
Reasons for Designation
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION:
The Gatehouse Buildings at the former IMI works, of 1915 by William Haywood, are listed at grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: the buildings are a strong Beaux Arts composition and provided an impressive public face to the site;
* Historic interest: they are related to the site of major arms manufacture during the First World War, and are designed by a noted practice later known as Buckland and Haywood;
* Level of survival: despite some loss of fabric and minor alteration, the buildings remain substantially intact.
History
Kynoch & Co. had been based at their works at Witton since 1861, and by the end of the C19 had the second largest ammunition factory in Britain, occupying a site of approximately 24 acres. The outbreak of the First World War saw a massive increase in the company's output, and at its peak there were thought to be around 18,000 people working at the site. As part of this expansion, the gate lodges and time office at the site's western entrance on Wellhead Lane were built to the designs of William Haywood, of the Birmingham practice Buckland, Haywood and Farmer. These were part of a much larger expansion on the site, and were completed in 1915.
Operations at Kynoch's, later Imperial Metal Industries (IMI), ceased in the early 2000s and the majority of the buildings were demolished. The gate lodges and time office on Wellhead Lane are thought to be the only surviving buildings from the company's occupation of the site.
Details
A pair of gate lodges and a time office of 1915 by William Haywood, of Buckland, Haywood and Farmer.
MATERIALS: the buildings are built of brick and stucco, with slate roofs.
PLAN: the buildings are orientated roughly north-south, with the central time office flanked by the two lodge buildings with gates between.
EXTERIOR: the buildings are symmetrically arranged, with the lodges flanking the central time office and pedestrian entrance to the site. The buildings all have plinths of blue brick with rendered elevations above, and mostly retain original sash windows.
The central building, which is lower in height than the lodges, has a projecting central section on its western, front elevation which contains an open pediment with a blank arched recess which formerly contained a decorative fanlight, and a central door contained in a surround with Doric pilasters and a thick cornice above. There are blind window panels in the flanking wings. The rear elevation, facing into the site, echoes the front elevation, and contains the date 1915 above the door. The apex of the roof has a flat central section, which is flanked by chimneys which are now truncated.
The lodge buildings have central arched doors on their western, entrance elevations, with decorative fanlights above the doors, which are recessed with panelled reveals and slightly projecting surrounds. There is a continuous stringcourse between ground and first-floor level, and there are two windows at first-floor level on each lodge, which sit below a projecting cornice with paired dentils at regular intervals. Each lodge has a pyramidal roof with a tall, central chimney stack with projecting panels on each face. From the corners of the lodges ramped wing walls project which carry on adjacent to the road. There are dwarf walls to the front of the lodges, with metal railings mostly now lost. The rear and side elevations are each of two bays, with arched surrounds to the ground floor windows.
The inner elevations of the lodges have small, projecting wings with hipped lean-to roofs. Between these and the time office there are large metal gates.
INTERIOR: the time office has a central hall with panelled, plaster walls and ceiling, with internal window openings into the rooms beyond, and partly glazed timber panelled internal doors. There is a modern turnstyle frame. The room to the south is a shell with exposed brickwork and roof timbers.
Both lodges have centrally-placed halls at ground-floor level which are accessed through arched openings from the front doors. The ground-floor rooms are accessed from the halls, including large living rooms. Most rooms have surviving timber panelled doors. The stairs in each lodge have open treads with stick balusters and carved brackets.
