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57 St Paul’s Square building history
- Thread starter olibobs
- Start date
Stokkie
master brummie
Not much historically as yet. It was built in 1851 and converted into twelve apartments in perhaps 2004. There are vaulted ceilings and skylights. 150 year leases on the flats from 2004. According to the Birmingham Evening Mail, despite the name the building has no religious significance, but seems to have acquired the nickname because of its location near the church in St Paul's Square. The front wall with tall windows resembles a chapel in shape.
'... It was once an electrical accumulator charging station. Before the Quarter was as we know it now, large batteries were transported to St Paul's Square by horse-drawn carriage to be charged here. As the structure, erected in the 1850s, is made of thick brick with tall windows designed to protect it in case of explosion, the nickname The Old Chapel is one that firmly stuck, given it looks like a place of worship.' Evening Mail 2017.
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/property/history-jewellery-quarters-most-lavish-13875650
Photo is second item.
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Stokkie
master brummie
Wikimapia says:
'The design comes from their purpose. As the large, heavy batteries were liable to explode, these buildings had thick walls built from engineering brick, and tall thin windows to allow the explosion to escape. As power generation was improved, the building became used for wharfage purposes, with timber being offloaded from the canal further down Ludgate Hill. It later became a warehouse until 1941 when it was bombed. However, the building survived due to the nature of its construction and went back to its roots as an electrical substation.
In 1998, it was sold to Pilotage who then converted the building into 12 apartments, designed by Nicholls (should read Nichols) Brown Webber Architects.' http://wikimapia.org/16270519/The-Old-Chapel
Picture Wikimapia which is an Open Content source.
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Dionysius//88
master brummie
I know in the burial grounds as what there are a lot of the Betts family there who a lot of the streets are named like Mary St Charlotte St etc
Stokkie
master brummie
So this purpose-built accumulator charging station was only active from 1851 to 1868 and then becomes a factory. I tend to forget how rapid industrial change was in Birmingham. I'm only familiar with accumulators from old wireless sets, but I suppose these could be used for lighting or small machines? And sorry, what's GE?
Pedrocut
Master Barmmie
GE, lazy way for Google Earth street view.
I took it that the Old Chapel was only used for electrical purposes sometime before 1940 and the entrance of Newey ? For most of its early existence looks to have been Manufacturers of roasting jacks. If this is so it could cast doubt on whether it was purpose built ?
I took it that the Old Chapel was only used for electrical purposes sometime before 1940 and the entrance of Newey ? For most of its early existence looks to have been Manufacturers of roasting jacks. If this is so it could cast doubt on whether it was purpose built ?
Stokkie
master brummie
Thank you, Pedrocut, it seems there's some crossed wires in the early history or perhaps someone in the architect's office in the early 2000s made a mistake in trusting secondary sources, as they tell the same origin story. https://nbwarchitects.co.uk/portfolio/the-old-chapel-birmingham/
For those like me who don't know what an accumulator did:
"Before the Quarter was as we know it now, large batteries were transported to St Paul's Square by horse-drawn carriage to be charged here. As the structure, erected in the 1850s, is made of thick brick with tall windows designed to protect it in case of explosion, the nickname The Old Chapel is one that firmly stuck, given it looks like a place of worship" Source : Birmingham Mail
"Before the Quarter was as we know it now, large batteries were transported to St Paul's Square by horse-drawn carriage to be charged here. As the structure, erected in the 1850s, is made of thick brick with tall windows designed to protect it in case of explosion, the nickname The Old Chapel is one that firmly stuck, given it looks like a place of worship" Source : Birmingham Mail
Stokkie
master brummie
Most familiar these days in the car battery which has lead plates suspended in a weak sulphuric acid solution. Milk Floats had lead acid cells connected together. Currently wheel chairs and fork lift trucks. Emergency lighting can be run off accumulators. If they are charged too quickly 'over gassing' can occur, so modern units are sealed and recharged by professionals.
Pedrocut
Master Barmmie
1851 sounds too early for a purpose built charging station, accumulators come into use much later. As for Alfred Bennett, who Kelly’s show at 57 from at least 1868 to 1890, he gets a mention of being in St Paul’s Square in 1842 and 1831. In 1901 there is a mention of the successors to Messrs Alfred Bennett at the Lower Grounds, Witton.
Stokkie
master brummie
Yes, the lead-acid accumulator was only invented in 1859, though there were various earlier acid batteries, but these could not be recharged. I now think that the supposed origin of the factory as a charging station is spurious. The meat roasting jacks I've seen are mechanical, some clockwork turning the spit. Newey could have dealt with accumulators from the 1940s I suppose.
Looking back through the old threads about St Paul Square- There is an intriguing entry on May 7th 2011 by "Astonian" about being shown a tunnel that ran from the Church to the "Old Chapel"??? - Sounds unlikely given the information posted...
Birmingham History / Memories & Nostalgia / Neighbours & Streets / St Paul's Square / page 1
Birmingham History / Memories & Nostalgia / Neighbours & Streets / St Paul's Square / page 1
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It was Bennetts in 1855 also . Also in 1849 and 1845 editions, though here, nos 55 and 56 are placed the same side of the junction with Charlotte St as no 57.
Stokkie
master brummie
I suspect Astonian who is sadly no longer with us was shown the cellars of an old building. Stories of monks and tunnels are common in England and I've been told them myself about other locations. The dissolution of the monasteries was before 1541. A folk memory or fiction attached to many old buildings.
Stokkie
master brummie
The architects of the converted building Nichols Brown Webber have a metal sign 'The Old Chapel' attached to the front wall. Perhaps it was their coinage? Redbrick gothic was fashionable in the 1850s for non-ecclesiastical buildings too.
Pedrocut
Master Barmmie
“Alfred (Bennett) was an office clerk in 1851, living at home. He married Elizabeth Beilby at Edgebaston in 1859. After his father's death he resided at 57 St.Paul's Square, Birmingham, where he was a domestic implement and roasting rack manufacturer employing 19 men, 5 boys, 1 woman and 2 girls in 1881, and a domestic servant. He was a man of genial and generous disposition. [C.B.Lloyd] Very stout, a churchwarden. He was one of the executors of the will of Richard Lloyd. He died on 8 November 1883. He left an estate valued at £3500 to his wife and executrix. [will] and was buried at St.Pauls Birmingham.”
www.wikitree.com
Alfred Bennett (1831-1883) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree
Is this your ancestor? Compare DNA and explore genealogy for Alfred Bennett born 1831 Birmingham, UK died 1883 57 St Pauls Square, Birmingham including ancestors + children + Y-chromosome DNA + more in the free family tree community.
Was Private Alfred H a grandson of Alfred (1831 - 1883). Private Bennett's father must also have been named Alfred.
Source : British Newspaper Archive
Source : British Newspaper Archive
