23, Frederick Street

This is a substantial manufactory with attached railings, dating from c.1895. It was designed by Mansell and Mansell, architects for Messrs Adie and Lovekin, jewellers. Constructed of red brick with terracotta detailing, it features gable chimneys and a Welsh slate roof. The building has a plan in an L-shape, fronting Frederick Street and Regent Street, and enclosing single-storey workshops.

The Frederick Street elevation is nearly symmetrical, with eight bays over a basement and a shallow chamfered plinth. The ends are defined by pilasters that terminate at segmental finials, topping enriched, diminutive pediments displaying shields with the entwined letters 'A.L.'. Wide ground floor doorways have moulded surrounds, deep lintels, and shallow hoods with engaged ball finial enrichment supported by scrolled consoles. Six tall multi-pane windows are spaced between the doorways, one retaining its original cross frame; the others have been modified to 8 over 16 pane transomed frames. A terracotta band runs above the window heads, now carrying signage. First floor windows have rubbed brick heads and 6 over 2 pane sashes, above a plain cill band. A dentil cornice runs around both street elevations. Basement windows have concrete lintels and multi-pane metal frames. Cast-iron railings, fixed to a low brick wall with saddleback copings and two railed gates, enclose the frontage.

The 13-bay Regent Street elevation has a wide pediment to the centre, with bays 6 and 9 featuring flanking pilasters. The window openings mirror those on Frederick Street, with narrower openings in bays 5 and 10 and lower ground floor windows in bays 11 and 13 that flank a doorway with pilasters, fluted brackets, and a scrolled pediment, above an 8-panel door and rectangular overlight. A goods entrance in bay 4 has a plain surround and flat lintel above panelled double doors with a rectangular overlight. Basement windows have flat lintels close to footway level.

Architect’s drawings from June 1894 reveal extensive basements beneath both frontage ranges extending below the railed enclosure to Frederick Street, and in the angle formed by the ranges. These basements housed engine and boiler rooms, muffles, and stores. The ground floor was largely workshops, with offices, a showroom, and a board room on the upper floor.

The manufactory forms a group with Nos. 22, 48, and 47 Frederick Street. It occupies a prominent position within a specialist industrial quarter of Birmingham, now recognised for its international significance.