115-121, Branston Street

A terrace of houses and workshops built between 1857 and 1858, with alterations in the late 20th century. The terrace is constructed of red brick with painted stone dressings, although numbers 115 and 117 are now rendered, and features coped intermediate and end gables, two ridge stacks, and Welsh slate roofing.

The terrace comprises two pairs of houses, each pair sharing a central passage leading to parallel workshop ranges on either side of a yard. The front range has three storeys and eleven bays, representing four two-bay houses, a passage bay, and a vehicle entrance at number 21. Bays 1 to 6 are brick-faced, while the remaining bays are smooth rendered. House doorways are located in bays 2, 6, 7, and 11, each with a semi-circular arched head, overlight and a 20th-century door. Passage openings are present at bays 2 and 9, with blocked overlights and blind openings to the upper floors. Windows flanking each house door have bracketed cornices and cambered lintels. Numbers 119 and 121 have two-over-two pane sash windows, while numbers 115 and 117 have undivided sashes. A blocked vehicle entry, originally beneath a basket arch, is now enclosed by a vertically-boarded screen with an integral pedestrian door. The first floor has two sash windows for each house, with similar detailing to those below; narrow windows are positioned above the house doorways. The windows on the upper floor are four-over-four and three-over-three pane sashes. Shared chimney stacks serve the passage bays.

The rear elevations incorporate two-storey service and workshop ranges; those attached to numbers 119 and 121 have workshop windows on both floors and doorways with semi-circular arches.

The interior has been altered to accommodate industrial premises. However, the rear ranges retain evidence of both domestic and industrial use, including kitchen and wash house areas and workshops that showcase in-situ benching and hearths.

The terrace is believed to be a speculative development of dwellings and workshops and originally included a spine wall dividing the rear yard, as shown on a contemporary rate map. Access to the domestic areas of the rear ranges was from within the houses, while privies and workshops were accessed from the yard. Historically, numbers 119 and 121 were occupied by small firms of jewellers and gold and silversmiths.

This is a mid-19th century speculative development of housing with attached workshops, demonstrating clear evidence of both industrial and domestic functions. It represents a building type derived from early 19th-century domestic conversions where workshops were developed in gardens. It is an important part of an industrial quarter of Birmingham recognized for its international significance.