Fabulous pics Phil....So, I was on the wrong side of the Street with the Stork!! ...the building was obviously finished in great style, and renovated after the great hurricane mentioned in mike's cutting.....it was on the corner next to Harry Parkes' sports shop....and I've added some words from Victorian Buildings of Birmingham by Roy Thornton...to go with his pics you posted...and the same building when it was the Wesleyan & General....and Cranes Pianos...nice to see half of it still going!
Nos 131-51. This site was the subject of what seems to have been an ambitious application, made in 1890,
for an exhibition hall, hotel and three shops, made by J.P. Sharp & Co. Kelly's Directory of 1892 refers to
Birmingham Exhibition Hall, Winter Gardens & County Hotel Ltd, but, by 1896 this had become County
Buildings and Wesleyan & General Assurance Society. In addition, there were several shops. In 1895
Ewen Harper submitted an application for alterations on behalf of the Society, which became the
owner of the property. Later the Society moved to new premises in Steelhouse Lane, designed by
Harper. For many years, before it was demolished, the building bore a large sign proclaiming 'Crane's Pianos'.
Nos
153-61. If I were asked to name my favourite of all the original buildings in the street I think
this would be the one, which may be a little unfair to those I cannot remember and for which I have
found no photographs. It was the subject of two applications, both made by Crouch & Butler on
behalf of A.R. Dean. The first, in 1896, was for warehouse and offices and the second, submitted in 1897,
was for business premises. The premises were occupied by Dean's, Furniture Manufacturers, and a vegetarian
restaurant.
Many years later, after he retired, Harry Parkes, the Aston Villa footballer, had a shop in the building.
The offices are known as Murdoch Chambers and Pitman Chambers. The building is Grade II* listed,
four storeys high, plus two attics, and faced with purple-red bricks and buff terracotta, and its colour is an
important feature of the building.