The Ikon Gallery And Ikon Cafe

The Ikon Gallery and Ikon Cafe

An art gallery and cafe housed in a former school and furniture store. The building was constructed for the Birmingham School Board in 1878 by the architectural practice Chamberlain and Martin, and altered by the same firm in 1898. It was converted to its present use around 1997 by Paul Clarke of Levitt Bernstein. The structure comprises three storeys and is built of red brick with tiled panels and ashlar decoration, topped with a tiled roof.

Exterior

The south-western front facing Oozells Square features two prominent gables, each with three bays. The ground-floor windows have carved arches to their tympana, while the first-floor windows are cusped-headed with tiled panels to the tympana and carved stone to the spandrels. To the left projects a bay with an apsidal end and conical roof, containing arched lights to the first floor and flat stone lintels to the mezzanine above. At ground-floor level, a large rectangular door surround was opened as a gallery entrance around 1997. Rising above this bay, recessed, stands the tower originally designed for air circulation. This has a plain brick lower body that tapers upwards, with two louvered openings and a cusped circle to the gable above. Square brick posts at the corners carry pyramidal caps, behind which rises a further gabled and louvered vent with a central metal vane to the ridge. To the right of the front is a projecting gabled staircase wing of four storeys with central paired lights and arched stone heads, plus a relieving arch with cusped rose to the apex. The south-east front contains a bay with three joined lights beneath a relieving arch at the left and a staircase tower with traceried head rising into a gablet at the right. A recessed three-light gabled wing follows, with the circa 1997 extension to the right, which features metal cladding and stainless steel ducts. Further right, recessed, are two bays with flat-headed windows and glazed tiles to the upper walling, apparently dating from 1898. The north-west flank displays the 1898 wing of two bays to the left, the gabled earlier building to the right, and the glass-walled extension of circa 1997 by Paul Clarke of Levitt Bernstein between them.

Interior

The ground floor contains a lobby leading to a restaurant and book shop, both with glass internal walling. Behind the building, a staircase rises behind glass walls, featuring wooden treads and glass flooring to the landings, connecting to the gallery floors formed from former classroom areas. To the second floor, the 1878 portion retains cusped wooden trusses, while the 1898 section has arched metal beam trusses.

History

The Birmingham School Board was established following the Elementary Education Act of 1870, which empowered school boards to create new schools and pay the fees of the poorest children. The Act resulted largely from campaigning by the Birmingham-centred National Education League. By 1902, when the Education Act abolished school boards and transferred education responsibility to local authorities, the Birmingham School Board had built fifty-two new schools plus its own offices. All but four were designed by the architectural practice Martin and Chamberlain—from 1900 called Martin and Martin—which was appointed Architect to the Board in 1870.

John Henry Chamberlain (1831-83) and William Martin (1828-1900) formed Martin and Chamberlain in 1864. After Chamberlain's death, Martin was joined by his son Frederick William Martin (1859-1917). The practice continued under the same name until William Martin's death, when it was renamed Martin and Martin. The board schools functioned as focal points within their districts, serving as symbols of municipal pride and civic achievement. Martin and Chamberlain created a distinctive house style for their schools, characterised by red-brick construction, tall ventilation towers, proliferation of gables, and decorative use of tiles and terracotta, sometimes displaying naturalistic forms. Chamberlain believed that beautiful and well-planned school architecture might offer children some compensation for drab, cramped homes. In 1894 the Pall Mall Gazette observed that "In Birmingham you may generally recognise a Board School by its being the best building in the neighbourhood... with lofty towers which serve the utilitarian purpose of giving excellent ventilation, gabled windows, warm red bricks and stained glass, the best of the Birmingham Board Schools have quite an artistic finish".

Oozells Street School was designed by Martin and Chamberlain in 1878 for the Birmingham School Board and was intended to accommodate 807 children. In 1898 its status changed to a Seventh Grade School, providing higher-level education, and the north-east wing dates from this period. The building ceased functioning as a school in the mid-twentieth century and subsequently served as a college and as the Furniture Stores for the City of Birmingham Education Department, during which time the ventilation tower was demolished. It was converted to the Ikon Gallery in 1997 by Levitt Bernstein as part of the redevelopment of the canal area and Brindley Place, and the tower was rebuilt to the original design.