9,10 AND 11, LEGGE LANE

Manufactory at 9, 10 and 11 Legge Lane, Birmingham

A purpose-built jewellery manufactory, designed by architect J.P. Osbourne for jewellery manufacturers Messrs Alabaster and Wilson. Built in 1891–2, with an extension added in 1899. Constructed in red brick with stone and terracotta detailing, ridge and eaves chimneys, and slate roof coverings.

The building occupies an evolved L-plan site. The original structure comprises numbers 10 and 11, positioned on a street corner plot with a curved south end. Number 9, added later, is itself L-shaped with a rear range of workshops, creating the complex's final configuration.

Numbers 10 and 11 present a 10-bay frontage of 2 storeys above a basement with a curved corner section. The asymmetrical west elevation features the main doorway positioned within bay 3, set in a moulded brick surround with a shallow arched head below a triple-light overlight and shallow terracotta pediment. The doorway is flanked by tall segmental arch-headed windows with undivided sash frames, barred on their inner faces. This pattern continues around the curved corner to the plainer southern doorway with its 4-panel door and tall shallow arch-headed overlight. To the left of the main entrance is a wide double doorway with vertically-boarded gates. A moulded lintel band extends along ground floor openings; a plain cill band marks the upper floor. The west elevation's first-floor windows are set within wide shallow gauged brick arch-headed openings with multi-pane cast-iron frames. To the right of the main entrance, narrower first-floor windows have undivided sash frames matching those below. A moulded eaves course sits above shallow clerestorey lights, which rise above the multi-pane workshop windows. Two narrow chimneys serving first-floor hearths interrupt the clerestorey line.

Number 9 has a 4-bay frontage of 3 storeys above a basement. Lintel and cill banding extends from the attached 2-storey range on its left. Three ground-floor sash windows and a doorway occupy the right-hand end, the door featuring a 4-panel design below a tall overlight. Each upper floor carries 4 sash windows, those above the doorway being narrower, all with glazing bars to the upper sashes. A 2-bay workshop range extends to the rear, with clerestorey lights above the eaves and rectangular multi-pane workshop windows to all three floors.

The interior retains almost all of its original plan form and fittings. Ground floor areas preserve original fireplaces and jewel viewing booths. Upper floors contain original workshop partitions, peg benches (jewellers' workshop benches), small furnaces, and reinforced doors. Original plans for numbers 10 and 11 show the ground floor was designed with warehouse strong room and stock room functions, while the upper floor provided open workshop space, a rough warehouse, and a stone room.

The building remains in the ownership of the company for which it was designed and has undergone very little alteration. It represents an extremely rare survival of a purpose-built jewellery manufactory from the late 19th century, a highly significant and legible example of the distinctive industrial architecture of this manufacturing quarter, now recognised as being of international importance.