Orphanage Road is a road in

Erdington Erdington is a suburb and ward of Birmingham in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Warwickshire and located northeast of central Birmingham, bordering Sutton Coldfield. It was also a council constituency, managed by its o ...

and

Wylde Green Wylde: * Wylde Green * Wylde Green railway station See also * Wilde * Wyld (disambiguation) * Wild (disambiguation) Wild, wild, wilds or wild may refer to: Common meanings * Wild animal * Wilderness, a wild natural environment * Wildne ...

, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands. Orphanage Road runs fro
Erdington Library
just before Erdington High Street, to Penns Lane, Sutton Coldfield and leads to Berwood Farm Rd and Welwyndale Rd. It covers the postcodes of B24 and B72. It was originally named Bell Lane and was renamed after the

Orphanage An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or ab ...

which

Josiah Mason Sir Josiah Mason (23 February 1795 – 16 June 1881) was an English industrialist, engaged in pen manufacture and other trades, and a philanthropist. He founded Mason Science College in 1875, which later became the University of Birmingham. Bi ...

built there in 1860 to a design by J.R. Botham. Mason also built almshouses adjacent to the orphanage in 1858. The orphanage included a 250-foot tower, famously scaled by Sir Benjamin Stone to take photographs of the panoramic views over Erdington. The orphanage was formally opened by Mason in 1869 and extended in 1876. The Orphanage building was demolished in 1964, in the mid 20th century, when

Victorian architecture Victorian architecture is a series of architectural revival styles in the mid-to-late 19th century. ''Victorian'' refers to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), called the Victorian era, during which period the styles known as Victorian we ...

was generally not highly valued and Anti-Victorianism was influential. The trustees thought the orphanage was, ''"outdated and expensive to maintain."'' The tower was demolished by replacing the stones at the base with wooden posts which were then ignited. The site was sold for housing.

References

*''The Story of Erdington - From Sleepy Hamlet to Thriving Suburb'', Douglas V. Jones, 1989, Westwood Press ()
The History of Erdington
* {{Streets in Birmingham Streets in Birmingham, West Midlands Erdington