Summary
A pair of symmetrical gatehouses built in 1873-1874.
Description
A pair of symmetrical gatehouses built in 1873-1874.
MATERIALS: red brick with slate roofs and stone dressings.
PLAN: T-plan form and arranged symmetrically at the entrance to the stables.
EXTERIOR: the buildings are both two storeys with a prominent gable end facing the street. The roofs are steeply pitched, with a Welsh slate covering and each gatehouse has two chimney stacks. There is a brick dentil frieze below the eaves.
The elevations to the corner entrance to the site are polygonal with a conical roofline. The fenestration across the pair is symmetrical, with both possessing a mixture of flat-headed and pointed brick arches with painted rusticated surrounds; the larger windows on the gabled elevation are divided by painted stone mullions. The windows are all sashes. Within the gable, there is an arrow-slit ventilator to each building.
The entrance to the western gatehouses is located on the northern elevation and the entrance to the south-eastern is located on the eastern elevation. A secondary entrance to each building is located to the rear, within the courtyard; all doors are timber panelled. The western gatehouse has an additional large door in the rear gable wing, whilst the mirrored elevation on the south-eastern gatehouse has a sash window.
INTERIOR: there is a large proportion of retained architrave within the south-eastern gatehouse, including skirting, doorways, and panelled doors. There are also surviving cast-iron fireplaces in some rooms.
The interior of the western gatehouse has been more altered, with the removal and insertion of a modern staircase in a different location and the removal of rooms to create office space.
History
The Birmingham to Wolverhampton canal was constructed in 1766-1769 with engineering from James Brindley and was the first canal to be constructed in Birmingham. The canal was later ‘straightened’ by engineer John Smeaton in order to create a more direct and cost-effective route for goods transportation.
Prior to development, this site functioned as a canal wharf for stone deliveries, such as Rowley Rag, and possibly for other materials such as coal. The complex of buildings on the junction of Sheepcote Street and St Vincent Street and on the side of the newly straightened stretch of canal first appears to have been developed in the 1870s, when the stable and gatehouses were built for the Corporation of Birmingham on the land in 1873-1874 following a suggestion by the Lamp and Paving sub-committee that the wharf become the principal depot for the Public Works committee. The development was the subject of an architectural competition in the early 1870s, which was won by W H Ward, an architect based in nearby Paradise Street. Ward was also the architect responsible for the Great Western Arcade, the Gazette Buildings and Queen’s Corner, Corporation Street.
It is thought that, owing to slight differences in the design and brickwork, that the former Workshop was constructed at a slightly later date than the stables and gatehouses. However, the stables, gatehouses and former workshop all appear on the 1890 OS map as a complete group. Whilst the stables and gatehouses appear to remain largely unchanged throughout the map regression, the former workshop is depicted with the western and northern end notated as open sided. By the early-C20, these have been enclosed.
The site was still in use as the City of Birmingham Engineers Department when the stables and gatehouses were first designated in 1976. The former stables, gatehouses and adjoining former workshop were then acquired by British Waterways (now the Canal and River Trust) in 2001, and in 2017 funding was secured for a programme of conservation works. The gatehouses now house offices.
Reasons for Listing
The pair of symmetrical gatehouses to the Roundhouse are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* for the architectural quality and well-considered positioning of the two houses which gives them a striking presence in the street scene and provides a strong entrance to the Roundhouse complex.
Historic interest:
* for their construction as part of a comprehensive scheme designed by W H Ward for the Corporation of Birmingham.
Group value:
* built contemporaneously with the Roundhouse, the gatehouses form an important group with the listed Roundhouse, workshop and storage building,
External Links
External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.
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