‘Crime’ to demolish workhouse archway
THE go-ahead to demolish a historic Birmingham workhouse is “a crime against the city’s social and cultural heritage”, it has been claimed.
Planning officers have given the green light for the demolition of the so-called Archway of Tears building which now stands in a car park at City Hospital off Dudley Road, in Winson Green.
The Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospital Trust is moving the hospital to Cape Hill next year and wants the derelict building cleared to make way for housing.
But the city’s Victorian Society is pleading with hospital bosses to reconsider and restore the archway – all that remains of the vast workhouse complex.
Society chairman Stephen Hartland said: “It’s a nice building and a big site. There will be major investment, certainly enough to restore the archway without mak- ing a huge dent in the finances. Demolition would be a further tragedy for Birmingham’s history. It would be a crime against the city’s social and cultural heritage.”
He said that the society had successfully challenged demolition threats to the Central Post Office in Victoria Square and the Grand Hotel in Colmore Row, and both had since been restored.
Historian Professor Carl Chinn said: “I am dismayed at this decision given the level of public support shown for keeping the building.”