Imex Business Park Torrington International Including Sports And Social Club

This is a car factory, constructed around 1906 for the Sunbeam Motor Car Company. It is located in Wolverhampton and extends to include portions of the Imex Business Park and the Sports and Social Club. The building is constructed primarily of brick with ashlar dressings, featuring slate roofs and brick stacks.

The factory is arranged over two storeys, with a central 7-window section flanked by a 9-window range to the left and a 7-window range to the right, extending to a further single-storey, 8-window range to the right. The central section has cornices to both floors, topped with a coped parapet and end Dutch gables; the flanking ranges have windows recessed between piers, with the exception of the end windows. A central segmental-arched throughway features a keystone and iron gates. Flanking round-headed recesses, one containing a 20th-century entrance and windows, the other recessed brick panels, emphasize the symmetry. The first floor boasts single-chamfered-mullioned and transomed windows, the central one featuring a large round-headed light, flanked by 2:3:2-light windows. Other windows have paired openings to the ground floor with cornices and one-over-four-pane horned sashes. The first-floor windows have segmental-headed arches with moulded keystones over casements, with narrow windows at the ends. Segmental-arched throughways are present at the ends, the left one with 20th-century infill for the Sports and Social Club. The single-storey range features segmental-headed windows with imposts and keystones above tripartite sashes with small-paned overlights.

The right return, facing Sunbeam Street, features nine coped and panelled gables, each with three windows in segmental-headed recesses, most with small-paned iron glazing. A similar elevation is present on Moorfield Road to the left of a corner garage, with 16 asymmetrical gables and 20th-century entrances and windows.

The interior of the sheds reveals lattice girders supported by iron columns, alongside matching roof trusses. The factory is notable as one of the earliest purpose-built car factories in England, representing an important local industry. Its innovative open-plan design marked a departure from the 19th-century courtyard plan. Car production occurred here until 1935, followed by commercial vehicles until the 1960s.