Baskerville House

Baskerville House is a Grade II listed building that serves as council offices. It was designed by T. Cecil Howitt, with construction beginning in 1938 and completed in the 1940s. The building is made of Portland stone ashlar and features a rusticated basement.

The structure has a rectangular plan with projecting end bays on the longer northeast and southwest sides, and the entrance is located at the center of the southeast side, accessed through an apse-like portico. The design is in the monumental Classical style and consists of four storeys. The southeast front has a five-one-five bay arrangement, with a battered rusticated basement that includes a string course above and an entablature with a dentilled cornice that extends forward around the central portico. This portico is supported by giant fluted Ionic columns arranged distyle in antis, and features a coffered semi-dome that forms a round arch with a stepped parapet above, adorned with a frieze of swags. Steps lead up to a bronze entrance flanked by broad fluted pilasters. The windows are set in moulded architraves, with first-floor windows featuring cornices and segmental pediments on consoles.

The northeast and southwest sides have a one-thirteen-one bay configuration, with the end bays advanced and featuring giant fluted Ionic columns in antis and attic pavilions above. Some basement windows have bronze grilles, and there are balconies on some first-floor windows.

Inside, the building is richly decorated with travertine marble, featuring a vaulted hall with galleried landings, bronze lift doors with relief panels depicting Birmingham's industries, moulded plaster ceilings, decorative ventilation grilles, panelling, and original furnishings.

Baskerville House, along with Birmingham Municipal Bank, was the only part of the civic centre to be constructed. It was designed in 1935, with work commencing in 1938 and finishing in the 1940s.