School Of Art, Birmingham City University

The School of Art at Birmingham City University was built between 1881 and 1885 by the architectural firm Martin and Chamberlain, with an extension added along Cornwall Street in 1893. The building is constructed from brick and terracotta, featuring stone dressings, some tile decoration, and a mosaic in the central gable. It has a tiled roof with bracketed eaves cornice and decorative ridge tiles, all designed in a Gothic style.

The structure stands three to four storeys tall and consists of five bays, with the central and outer bays gabled, though they vary in width and height, creating a strikingly asymmetrical facade. The central bay includes a gabled entrance arch flanked by pinnacles, leading to a large pointed arched opening within the gable above. The entrance door is set behind gates and accessed via a steep flight of steps, which leads into a room with arches supported by granite columns and a flat panelled wooden ceiling.

The ground floor windows feature shouldered and moulded heads, while the first floor showcases broad lancet windows in various groupings. On the left, there is a roundel by Barlow of Leicester adorned with splendid foliage in an Art Nouveau style, accompanied by a band of trefoil-headed lancets with roundels below. To the right, a large canted bay window is supported by a tripartite buttress rising from the basement level, topped with a triplet of lancets. The spandrels exhibit excellent floral details.

Inside, the building is richly detailed, featuring mosaic floors, stained glass windows, fine metalwork, joinery, and intricately carved capitals. The top floor studios are spacious and functionally designed, supported by large iron arches with quatrefoils. The nine bays of the extension differ from the original five bays by incorporating figures, designed by Benjamin Creswick, in the tympana of the arches instead of foliage.