Calls to save landmark church Campaigners urge city to halt demolition of historic Birmingham buildings
CONSERVATION campaigners have launched a battle to save an historic Birmingham church and former orphans’ home which are set to face the bulldozers as part of a major housing development.
Barratt Homes unveiled plans last month to build 772 houses and apartments on land at the corner of Birmingham’s Bristol Street and Belgrave Middleway, near the city centre.
But now both Save Britain’s Heritage and The Victorian Society have written to Birmingham City Council calling for a halt to the plans to knock down the redbrick St Luke’s Church and nearby Highgate Centre.
The vacant church was built in 1903 and was designed by noted Birmingham architects Mansell and Mansell, the team behind 44 Waterloo Street (now home to a Caffè Nero overlooking Birmingham Cathedral) and the Fattorini Works in the Jewellery Quarter.
The threatened Highgate Centre, in St Luke’s Road, dates back to 1877 and was most recently used as council offices but was once a home for orphaned children.
The 22-acre application site is owned by Birmingham City Council and the Homes and Communities Agency.
It once housed Matthew Boulton College and the St Luke’s housing estate but has been vacant since the college buildings were demolished around nine years ago.
In a letter to the city council, Mike Fox, deputy director of Save Britain’s Heritage, said the “Bristol Street and St Luke’s Development Framework” stated that both buildings should be retained and reused in any future development of the site.
He said: “We firmly believe both buildings can be provided with new uses and their retention as part of the wider St Luke’s redevelopment would immeasurably improve the proposals, providing a sense of place and anchoring the new buildings to their location.
“They are not so sizeable as to inhibit development of the wider site nor in a condition that prevents their reuse.
“St Luke’s is evidently a handsome, landmark building which has witnessed and survived considerable changes around it.
“Its position on one of the most prominent road junctions in the city makes it a well-known building and its loss to this area and Birmingham as a whole would be considerable.
“We firmly disagree with the applicant’s heritage statement that St Luke’s is of limited architectural and historic interest.
“Mansell and Mansell are local architects of distinction and their surviving buildings are deserving of respect.”
Tim Bridges, on behalf of The Victorian Society, echoed the view, referring to the Highgate Centre as “a brick building of character”.
He said: “Erected as a children’s emigration home, it is also an evocative part of Birmingham’s heritage as many orphan and destitute children were housed here before being sent to start new lives, particularly in Canada and Australia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
“As St Luke’s and the centre are the only two historic buildings on the site, their preservation, inclusion and re-use in the proposals seems vital.”
But Barratt Homes said local residents and stakeholder groups were consulted before the application was submitted.
As they are the only two historic buildings on the site, their re-use seems vital Tim Bridges, The Victorian Society, pictured right