32, Frederick Street

Manufactory at 32 Frederick Street, Birmingham

A purpose-built manufactory completed in 1914–15, designed by the architects Crouch, Butler and Savage for E.L. Gyde Ltd, diamond mounters. The building was empty at the time of inspection in September 2000. Minor alterations were made in the late 20th century.

The structure is built in red brick with white terracotta and glazed brick facings on the front elevation. It features a mansard roof with slate covering and a flat roof over the rear workshop range. The plan is an extended T-shape, with a display frontage range facing Frederick Street and a long storeyed workshop range extending northwards across the full length of the plot. This rear range adjoins workshop ranges on Vittoria Street.

The front elevation faces Frederick Street with three storeys and an attic. It is asymmetrical across four bays, with a flat-roofed porch positioned to the right. The doorway has a bolection-moulded surround with a deep raised voussoired head. Panelled double doors open below a rectangular overlight with a geometric pattern of metal glazing bars. Above this is a shallow 2-light window, followed by a tall 2-light transomed stair window. To the left of the porch are two ground floor windows, now overboarded but believed to conceal sash window frames, set within green glazed brick facings. The first and second floors each have three windows, and the mansard contains three dormer windows. These upper windows are believed to contain sash and casement frames and are set within terracotta-faced walling.

The north side elevation comprises three bays with multi-pane sash windows to ground and first floors set within walling partially faced in white glazed brickwork. The east bay features a tripartite sash window to the ground floor and canted oriel windows to both upper floors.

The rear elevation displays a twelve-bay, three-storeyed workshop range constructed in banded red and blue brick, with full-height buttresses positioned to every alternate bay. The side walls contain tall multi-pane metal workshop windows to each bay across all storeys, positioned below rendered steel lintels. The flat roof is finished with a railed parapet.

The ground floor of the frontage range contains two hearths and connects directly to the rear workshop range without internal subdivisions. The first floor is separated by glazed partitioning into a main floor with three offices and a separate stair access area. The second floor contains three offices. The upper floor provides caretaker's accommodation, a security feature common to early 20th-century manufactories storing precious metals and gemstones. The workshop floors are planned as open-plan spaces, lit from both side walls to maximise the benefit of natural light from dual elevations.

The manufactory was constructed to replace an early 19th-century house that had been converted to industrial use in 1855 and subsequently extended on several occasions before 1890, during a period of rapid expansion. The new building provided enhanced and up-to-date manufacturing premises.

The building forms a group with No. 30 Frederick Street and No. 43 Frederick Street. It represents a distinctive example of early 20th-century industrial architecture in what is now recognised as an internationally significant manufacturing district, demonstrating careful planning in the integration of workshop and office facilities with on-site security provisions.