It was only the other day i was thinking that the Jewellery Quarter seemed to be all said and done nowadays, then this turns up! The quarter has always been one of the UE hotspots of Birmingham, a formerly industrial area, narrowly saved from 1960s development and now part way through a 'regeneration process' that of course stalls and falters every time there is some kind of financial crisis leaving us with its current mix of upper market flats and ages old industry. If you're ever bored in the city i highly recommend just heading that direction and roaming the streets for a while. As this thread proves to never know what you might find!
This works had somehow flown under all of our radars in the past. I'm not sure why. I was out checking out another building just round the corner but that turned out to be a bit on the average side. I happened to take a little stroll afterwards and boom a door to epic swinging in the breeze!
Externally the building bares quite a few company names. The original Ahronsberg Bros is shown in the stone work and then several later companies are mentioned on various windows and plaques. It appears after Ahronsberg left it was split in as many as 4 different units but you would be hard pushed to notice now.
Heading inside we find 1970s versions of the 'booths' that we saw last year at Frosts. Theres only two this time and with less stain glass but they are recognisably for the same purpose.
The main 'shop' as it were. It would once have had an entrance on the corner of the building but this must have been removed when they remodeled in the 70s
At the rear of the shop area a large walk in safe complete with wooden compartments
and lists of the various jewellery that was once inside
The rest of the ground floor is quite bland. Very 70s, some locked rooms some offices. The buildings form a small courtyard and the arched basement now only contains modern toilets.
Heading up the the next flor via a lovely spiral staircase that's typical of these Jewellery works
Up here it's much more dated and we start to find the workshops complete with low hanging fruit, jewelers tools and old tat.
A room where they would have done etching and possibly plating processes
A jewelers bench
More offices at the front of the building that had their own reception accessed by a separate staircase
Here we see why the door was open.. The building has a tenant.
This works had somehow flown under all of our radars in the past. I'm not sure why. I was out checking out another building just round the corner but that turned out to be a bit on the average side. I happened to take a little stroll afterwards and boom a door to epic swinging in the breeze!
wikimapia said:
Externally the building bares quite a few company names. The original Ahronsberg Bros is shown in the stone work and then several later companies are mentioned on various windows and plaques. It appears after Ahronsberg left it was split in as many as 4 different units but you would be hard pushed to notice now.
Heading inside we find 1970s versions of the 'booths' that we saw last year at Frosts. Theres only two this time and with less stain glass but they are recognisably for the same purpose.
The main 'shop' as it were. It would once have had an entrance on the corner of the building but this must have been removed when they remodeled in the 70s
At the rear of the shop area a large walk in safe complete with wooden compartments
and lists of the various jewellery that was once inside
The rest of the ground floor is quite bland. Very 70s, some locked rooms some offices. The buildings form a small courtyard and the arched basement now only contains modern toilets.
Heading up the the next flor via a lovely spiral staircase that's typical of these Jewellery works
Up here it's much more dated and we start to find the workshops complete with low hanging fruit, jewelers tools and old tat.
A room where they would have done etching and possibly plating processes
A jewelers bench
More offices at the front of the building that had their own reception accessed by a separate staircase
Here we see why the door was open.. The building has a tenant.
