Description

The following building shall be added to the list;
BIRMINGHAM BARTHOLOMEW ROW
SP 80 NE
Numbers 7-12,
Premises of the Christopher
Wray's Lighting Company
7/10027
II
Houses and workshops, now brassware factory. Mid C19 with possible
late C18 and early C19 remains, and late C19 and early C20 additions.
Brick with some painted stone or stucco dressings, and slate roofs.
The facade to Bartholomew Row is of 3 storeys above a cellar and 7
irregular bays. A straight joint suggests that it is of 2 builds and
the ground-floor brickwork is painted. It has painted surrounds to the
openings and the parapet is rendered. The windows are casements. The
first floor windows have a sill band, and lugged architraves with
cornices and pulvinated friezes. The second floor windows have plain
surrounds. The left-hand bay on the ground floor contains a blocked
window opening. The second bay has a doorway with plain reveals and
a painted round arch. The third bay contains a wide doorway with
timber lintel. The fourth and seventh bays have doorways which are
similar to the first floor window surrounds,the left-hand one now
containing a window. The fifth and sixth bays have windows with plain
reveals and painted lintels. Between them is a door with a painted
surround with round arch, keystone, and impost blocks. In line with
this doorway there is a ridge chimneystack. The main part of the Fox
Street facade is of painted render and of 2 storeys and 3 bays. On the
ground floor there are 2 wide entrance doorways with elliptical
arches, with a blocked window between them which has an architrave.
The first floor windows have plain surrounds with a sill band, and
casement windows with glazing bars. The central window is tripartite.
To the right is the end wall of a late C19 workshop range, of 2
storeys under a narrow gable at the left, and of 3 storeys and 2 bays
under a monopitch roof at the right.
The main Fox Street building is linked to the rear of numbers 7-10
Bartholomew Row by ranges of shopping of 2 and 3 storeys, including
a workshop with a lantern light rising above the roof. The late C19
workshop range extends, under a monopitch roof, from Fox Street to the
rear of numbers 11 and 12 Bartholomew Row.
Interior. The former houses facing Bartholomew Row have brick vaulted
cellars, a mid C19 staircase, slate or marble fireplaces of mid and
late C19 type, and some brick floors. The interiors of the workshop
areas retain many features, including fixed workbenches directly lit
by ranges of single side-wall windows. At ground floor levels, sunken
walkways accommodate access to stamping machines. One area, central
to the ground floor workshops retains a two bay vaulted ceiling
reminiscent of fire proof construction in C19 textile mills. There is
a single cast metal pillar with a decorative capital associated with
this vaulting. An upper room, rectangular on plan was lit by the
raised lantern roof; an inserted C20 ceiling now obscures this
feature.
History. Map evidence shows that Bartholomew Row was built up by 1779
and Fox Street by 1810. Numbers 7-10 may have late C18 origins, but
numbers 11 and 12 were probably rebuilt in the early 1860's. The
earliest building fronting Fox Street may be William Spurrier's
malthouse of 1800, altered in the late 1870's or early 1880's when the
premises were occupied by a glass tablet maker. The shopping at the
rear of numbers 7-10 Bartholomew Row was in existence by 1855 and may
be the buildings listed as Spurrier's warehouse and shopping in 1823.
The shopping behind numbers 11 and 12 Bartholomew Row was built c1894
by Henry Austin Aquila, a ginger beer maker. In 1910 H.B. London and
Bros., Stampers, moved into 10 Bartholomew Row and by 1928 occupied
the entire complex. London Bros. were incorporated into Christopher
Wray in the early 1980's.

Listing NGR: SP0766387127

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Christopher Wray Lighting works at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q20202834

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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