Tag: terracotta

February 12th – Just a stones throw away in the wonderfully named Crescent Road, this odd… garage? Stable? Workshop? 

In similar red terracotta bricks, this crumbling edifice sits between the back of the Town Hall (itself a work of gorgeous red brick Franco-Gothic Victoriana) and the similarly grand Police Station. I never noticed this before, yet I pass it loads. I looks like a workshop or garage, I’m thinking possibly for a fire engine or similar. Anyone know what the roundel represents or signifies?

Sadly, the structure appears to be failing, and I don’t think those doors have been opened in a goodly while. I hope this is saved; it may be a lowly sibling of the grand architectural statements around, but in its own way a diminutive delight.

December 8th – I noticed it particularly in Victoria Park, Darlaston; this was now a winter place, and the low sun was doing it justice. It was only morning, but looked almost like the golden hour. Days like this, the light is like honey all day. 

This sun, the weak but beautiful one we’re blessed with for the shortest days of winter, lights the red, red terracotta of the Black Country wonderfully, and there’s no better place to enjoy it than Darlaston.

November 13th – Later, in Acocks Green, I was surprised to note some old and rather wonderful architecture I hadn’t noticed previously. I was so busy looking for old cottages last week, that I never spotted some rather wonderful examples of civic buildings in Alexander Road. The Baptist Church Hall is a classic Birmingham terracotta brick building, and puts me very much in mind of the Magistrates Court in Corporation Street in the city centre. It seems to have an attached caretakers house, and next door appears to be an attractive former schoolhouse. I must look into the history of these buildings – they’re very grand for a small suburb. There must have been a fair bit of money here once…

October 10th – I’ve been studying the detail of buildings lately. Small things. Architraves, chimneys, corbels, pediments, lintels. Airbricks, panels and frescos. Sills, doorways and sashes. There’s a huge variety of stuff in the everyday. In a quiet Tyseley backstreet, my gaze was caught by this ornate ventilation brick made from pressed terracotta in an otherwise plain factory wall. As I stopped to take a better look, I noticed the Ordnance Survey benchmark carved into the wall. A fixed datum at a measured height, these may not be used so much now, but they’re a real signal of permanence. 
The things you see with your eyes open…