109, Northwood Street

This is a late 19th-century manufactory, comprising an office and warehouse range with an attached rear workshop range. Later alterations occurred in the 20th century. The building is constructed of red brick with decorative brickwork, ashlar stone dressings, brick coped gables, and a slated roof.

The plan follows an elongated “L” shape, with the office and warehouse range facing Northwood Street, a rear workshop range addressing the rear, and a 20th-century infill closing off a former courtyard.

The Northwood Street frontage is an asymmetrical six-bay range of three storeys above a basement. The entrance bay, situated on the right, features a wide, segmentally arched opening with a moulded brick surround. Within this opening is a moulded ashlar doorcase with a semi-circular head bearing a banner motif, and a double four-panel door. Above the entrance is a shallow curved oriel with transomed lights; its corbelled base and window head frieze are ornamented with acanthus leaf detailing. A three-light upper floor window has flat mullions and a plain sash frame. An enriched frieze is above the window head, and the base of a former pediment remains. To the left of the entrance, three central bays feature stacked window openings; two ground floor windows have been widened and fitted with 20th-century shutters. A blocked window with a shallow brick arched head is to the right of the entrance.

The first floor has three openings with shallow brick-arched heads, painted springers, moulded surrounds, and two-over-two pane sash frames. A stepped string course above creates hoods over the windows. Three upper floor windows have deeply recessed frames in moulded surrounds beneath flat heads. Further to the left is a wide, advanced chimney breast with a recessed central panel, a stepped base, and a stepped arched head. The stack is shouldered at upper floor level and truncated above the dentilled eaves. A vehicle entrance is located at the left-hand end bay, beneath a wide metal lintel with a keyblock motif. Double string courses are above the entrance, with an inset moulded apron to the window opening above, which has a moulded surround and a deeply recessed two-over-two pane sash. The surrounding brickwork slopes inwards to the set-back vertical face, aligning with the building to the right of the chimney. The window surround terminates at a flat canopy to the window head. The rear features a four-storeyed workshop range with an asymmetrically pitched roof and small-paned workshop windows in each bay at all levels.

The interior has not been inspected.

This medium-sized manufactory, built in the late 19th century, combines distinctive architectural detailing with the functional plan typical of metal-working complexes situated within a specialist industrial district of Birmingham, recognized as being of international significance.