The Council House is a former municipal building in Soho Road in

Handsworth, West Midlands Handsworth () is an inner-city area of Birmingham in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historically in Staffordshire, Handsworth lies just outside Birmingham City Centre and near the town of Smethwick. In 2021 the ...

, a suburb of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

in England. The building, which is currently used as a public library and college campus, is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

Following significant population growth, largely associated with

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs Work (physics), mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cyl ...

manufacturing at

Soho Foundry Soho Foundry is a factory created in 1795 by Matthew Boulton and James Watt and their sons Matthew Robinson Boulton and James Watt Jr. at Smethwick, West Midlands, England (), for the manufacture of steam engines. Now owned by Avery ...

, a

local board of health A local board of health (or simply a ''local board'') was a local authority in urban areas of England and Wales from 1848 to 1894. They were formed in response to cholera epidemics and were given powers to control sewers, clean the streets, regulat ...

was formed in Handsworth in 1877. The board decided to commission a municipal building for its use, to provide Local Board offices, a meeting room for the Board, committee rooms and a large public room, 'together with stables, cart and implement sheds, and other requisite accommodation'. The site selected was on the north side of Soho Road. The foundation stone for the new building was laid on 30 October 1877. It was designed by Alexander & Henman of

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees is a market town in County Durham, England, with a population of 84,815 at the 2021 UK census. It gives its name to and is the largest settlement in the wider Borough of Stockton-on-Tees. It is part of Teesside and the Tees Val ...

in the

Gothic Revival style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

, built in red brick and

terracotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...

at a cost of £20,662 and was completed in 1879. The design involved a main frontage of 16 bays facing onto Soho Road. The left-hand section of five bays formed a public library and the right-hand section of 11 bays formed the council house. A Fire Engine Station was included at the rear. The library section, which was asymmetrical, featured a

polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure made up of line segments connected to form a closed polygonal chain. The segments of a closed polygonal chain are called its '' edges'' or ''sides''. The points where two edges meet are the polygon ...

-shaped bay which was projected forward and surmounted by a

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Optical microscope#Objective turret (revolver or revolving nose piece), Objective turre ...

, and there was an arched doorway in the right-hand bay. The library opened, 'with a collection of about 5,000 volumes' on 1 May 1880; it quickly grew and the building was extended in 1891. The council house section, which was broadly symmetrical, featured a five-stage tower in the central bay, flanked by connecting sections of two bays each, and by end sections of three bays each (which were slightly projected forward and gabled); the other bays were generally fenestrated with bi-partite or tri-partite

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid sup ...

ed and transomed windows. The tower had an arched doorway in the first stage, an

oriel window An oriel window is a form of bay window which protrudes from the main wall of a building but does not reach to the ground. Supported by corbels, bracket (architecture), brackets, or similar cantilevers, an oriel window generally projects from an ...

in the second stage,

lancet window A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a sharp pointed arch at its top. This arch may or may not be a steep lancet arch (in which the compass centres for drawing the arch fall outside the opening). It acquired the "lancet" name from its rese ...

s in the third and fourth stages, with

machicolation In architecture, a machicolation () is an opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement through which defenders could target attackers who had reached the base of the defensive wall. A smaller related structure that only protects key ...

s above, and a timbered clock in the fifth stage. The clock was by the local firm of clockmakers, W. F. Evans; it sounded the hours and quarters on three bells, made by a Birmingham bellfounder, James Barwell. In 1894, the board was succeeded by Handsworth Urban District Council, which used the Council House as its offices, but the building ceased to be the local seat of government when area was annexed by

Birmingham City Council Birmingham City Council is the local authority for the city of Birmingham in the West Midlands, England. Birmingham has had an elected local authority since 1838, which has been reformed several times. Since 1974 the council has been a metropo ...

in 1911. The council house was subsequently leased to the Handsworth School of Dress Design, which was a branch of the Birmingham Government School of Design. The Birmingham Government School of Design became part of

Birmingham Polytechnic Birmingham City University (abbrev. BCU) is a university in Birmingham, England. Initially established as the Birmingham College of Art with roots dating back to 1843, it was designated as a polytechnic (United Kingdom), polytechnic in 1971 an ...

in 1971. In the late 1970s, the vacant building was acquired by Handsworth Technical College (later City College Birmingham), which merged with South Birmingham College to form the Handsworth Campus of

South and City College Birmingham South & City College Birmingham is a further education, further and higher education college in Birmingham, England, offering a range of full-time and part-time courses. The college was formed through the merger of South Birmingham College and ...

in 2012.

References

{{reflist Handsworth, West Midlands City and town halls in the West Midlands (county) Grade II listed buildings in Birmingham