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The O2 Institute (originally known as the Digbeth Institute) is a music venue located in Birmingham, England. The venue opened in 1908 as a mission of Carrs Lane Congregational Church. It has also served as an event centre, civic building and nightclub. It has three main rooms: the 1,500-capacity main auditorium called O2 Institute1 (formerly "The Institute") which has two seated upper balcony levels, the downstairs room which holds up to 600 people called O2 Institute2 (formerly "The Library") and the 250-capacity upstairs room O2 Institute3 (formerly "The Temple"). The venue also houses "Un-Plug", an intimate club with a capacity of 400, located in the building's cellar. The space formerly operated as the "Midland Jazz Club", "Jug 'O Punch Folk Club", Dance Factory and "Barfly".


History

Designed by Arthur Harrison, it was officially opened 16 January 1908 by the wife of the Pastor of
Carrs Lane Church Carrs Lane Church, also known as The Church at Carrs Lane is a church in Birmingham and is noted as having the largest free-standing cross in the country. History The church was founded as an independent chapel in 1748 and then enlarged in 1812 ...
, John Henry Jowett, as an institutional church associated with Carr's Lane Congregational Church. In the week that followed, it hosted a variety of acts. The area which surrounded it was predominantly
slum A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily inh ...
s and industrial buildings. In 1954, the building was put up for sale by the trustees as they felt the building was not needed for its originally intended use. It was bought by Birmingham City Council in 1955 for £65,000 and was used as a civic hall. People known to have made speeches at the Digbeth Institute include
Neville Chamberlain Arthur Neville Chamberlain (; 18 March 18699 November 1940) was a British politician of the Conservative Party who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. He is best known for his foreign policy of appeasemen ...
, Henry Usborne,
Florence L. Barclay Florence Louisa Barclay (2 December 1862 – 10 March 1921) was an English romance novelist and short story writer. Biography She was born Florence Louisa Charlesworth in Limpsfield, Surrey, England, the daughter of the local Anglican rector ...
and
Herbert Hensley Henson Herbert Hensley Henson (8 November 1863 – 27 September 1947) was an Anglican priest, bishop, scholar and controversialist. He was Bishop of Hereford from 1918 to 1920 and Bishop of Durham from 1920 to 1939. The son of a zealous member ...
. The Church relocated to Yardley as Digbeth-in-the-Field Congregational Church. In the late 1950s and early 1960s it housed the Midland Jazz club. Wrestling was held at the venue when it was known as Digbeth Civic Hall. In 1987, the building was used as a film studio by the Birmingham Film and Video Workshop for the Channel 4 film 'Out of Order'. The venue also played a part as one of the main locations in the feature film 'Lycanthropy', filmed in 2005–06. In the 1985 and 1997, the venue was refurbished. In 1998, "The Sanctuary" opened, which was to be the original home of the Cambridge/Northampton born club night event
Godskitchen Godskitchen is an international superclub brand which is associated with dance music and organises events, particularly in the UK and US. The company used to run a club night of the same name at their nightclub AIR, in Birmingham. Godskitchen ha ...
. It also played host to other events such as: Atomic Jam, Uproar, Slinky, Sundissential, Athletico, Ramshackle, Insurrection, Inukshuk and Panic. In 2005, Channelfly Company bought the downstairs "cellar" room, and turned it into the Birmingham Barfly. This 400 capacity venue was host to touring bands and local bands. The MAMA Group acquired Channelfly as a subsidiary in 2006. In 2008, the MAMA Group took over the lease of the whole building. Work was started on renovating the building, especially the historic features. The work was due to be finished in September 2009 (but was not completed until March 2010). In January 2009, HMV bought a 9.9% stake in The MAMA Group (by taking 50% of the Mean Fiddler). In January 2010 HMV bought the remaining percentage of the MAMA group for £46 million. After a £4 million refurbishment, the HMV Institute opened on 18 September 2010. In December 2012, HMV sold its assets to Lloyds Development Capital (LDC) for under £8 million. In 2015, the venue was acquired by
Live Nation Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. is an American global entertainment company and monopoly that was founded in 2010 following the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster. The company promotes, operates, and manages ticket sales for live entertainme ...
, and re-branded as O2 Institute Birmingham, as part of the O2 Academy Group.


Naming history

*Digbeth Institute *Digbeth Civic Hall *Sanctuary Nightclub *HMV Institute *O2 Institute


Exterior

The exterior is a mixture of
red brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...
and grey terracotta. The grey terracotta forms the more ornate features of the façade including the three towers, the 1.65-metre tall allegorical figures and the window and door frames. The six allegorical figures are believed to be the work of John Evans, the chief modeller for Gibbs & Canning. Two hold open books and two have musical instruments (a third's instrument is lost). The final figure holds a purse, representing public charity. The drawings of the building by Arthur Harrison do not include the figures, indicating that these were probably added in 1909. The building is Grade B locally listed.Birmingham City Council - List of Locally Listed Buildings
Birmingham.gov.uk


References


External links


Birmingham City Council: 1908 photograph and information
{{BirminghamBuildings Nightclubs in Birmingham, West Midlands Music venues in Birmingham, West Midlands Buildings and structures completed in 1908 1908 establishments in England