I am familiar with Erdington Cottage Homes on Fentham Road, Erdington, just off Gravelly Hill. These days it is called The Gardens and is used by the Birmingham Social Services for many social service offices. Recently there has been a book published about the life and times of the Cottage Homes. The Cottage Homes was just up the road from my last school Fentham Secondary School for Girls. The Cottage Homes information for this place and other Cottage Homes in and around Birmingham are on the Workhouse websites generally.
Have a look here.......
www.institutions.org.uk/workhouses/england/warks/aston_cottage_homes.htm
As the No.11 Outer Circle passed by the back part of the Cottage Homes, I must have passed it hundreds of tiumes. When it was built in 1898 it was "state of the art" in Orphanages. It had it's own junior school, chapel and sick bay. There are many photos on the above web site and it hasn't changed very much over the years. It's location is very close to Highcroft Hall, which was a Workhouse and then a Mental Hospital. The Homes had very large park like grounds which were close to the railway.
I made friends over the last five years with a girl who was brought up in Erdington Cottage Homes along with her brother, at least 50 years ago. She attended Fentham Girls School but I didn't know her then. She emigrated to America in the l960's. We came into contact through our Centenary School reunion last year, but just over the internet and our school site on Friends Reunited. She had lost touch with her brother when she went to America and found him just two years ago in Birmingham. She used a private locator service to track him down.
The other Children's Orphanage in Erdington was Sir Josiah Mason's Orphanage built in the mid l800's in Bell Lane, which became and still is Orphanage Road, Erdington. I remember it very well.It was a huge place complete with towers and always seemed a bit frightening overall. Bit about Sir Josiah Mason on this site
https://jquarter.members.beeb.net/morejmason.htm. Sir Josiah Mason had connections to Aston with his Pen business on Lancaster Street. One of the largest pen manufacturer's
in the world at that time. He was also involved in the establishment of Elkington & Co.
The old Orphanage buildings were abandoned in the l950's and demolished in 1963.
It was a huge place complete with towers and always seemed a bit frightening overall