We all pass the buildings and modern offices of Birmingham everyday, but do you ever stop and ponder, what on earth did that building used to be?
Now I know I am a bit of a ‘history buff’ and I am fascinated in the history of Birmingham, but there are so many around us every day that have an intriguing past. Some obvious like the Custard Factory. It doesn’t take a genius to work out what that used to be, but others do take a little more working out and investigation to figure out what they were.
The Icon Gallery in Oozells Square, a splendid Victorian building. Right in the heart of town and known for its blossom in the spring, but it was built for the Birmingham School Board in 1878. It was designed by local architects Martin & Chamberlain who built over 40 Birmingham Board Schools across the city. Now a Grade II listed building in Brindley Place, just off Broad Street. The Ikon moved to this location in 1997 after originally forming in 1965 in a kiosk in the Bull Ring Shopping Centre.
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Others like the Minories are well known to older people as the old Lewis’s, somewhere just about everybody visited at Christmas to see Santa. Some buildings have been brought back from the dead, the Belmont Works in Eastside was a derelict, empty building for many years. A former bicycle factory, it has been totally transformed into STEAMhouse part of Birmingham City University, which is described as a ‘centre for collaborative innovation, business support, learning opportunities and office space.’
Here are just a few of the many changes our city has experienced over the decades and centuries.