Former Gas Retort House, Retort House Extension to South West and Attached Store
FORMER GAS RETORT HOUSE, RETORT HOUSE EXTENSION TO SOUTH WEST AND ATTACHED STORE, 39, BERKLEY STREET
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1234330
- Date first listed:
- 30-Jun-1993
- List Entry Name:
- Former Gas Retort House, Retort House Extension to South West and Attached Store
- Statutory Address:
- FORMER GAS RETORT HOUSE, RETORT HOUSE EXTENSION TO SOUTH WEST AND ATTACHED STORE, 39, BERKLEY STREET
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2001-06-24
- Reference:
- IOE01/00017/15
- Rights:
- © Mr Geoff Dowling. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1234330
- Date first listed:
- 30-Jun-1993
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 21-Jan-1994
- List Entry Name:
- Former Gas Retort House, Retort House Extension to South West and Attached Store
- Statutory Address 1:
- FORMER GAS RETORT HOUSE, RETORT HOUSE EXTENSION TO SOUTH WEST AND ATTACHED STORE, 39, BERKLEY STREET
- Statutory Address 2:
- FORMER GAS RETORT HOUSE, RETORT HOUSE EXTENSION TO SOUTH WEST AND ATTACHED STORE, 39, GAS STREET
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- FORMER GAS RETORT HOUSE, RETORT HOUSE EXTENSION TO SOUTH WEST AND ATTACHED STORE, 39, BERKLEY STREET
- Statutory Address:
- FORMER GAS RETORT HOUSE, RETORT HOUSE EXTENSION TO SOUTH WEST AND ATTACHED STORE, 39, GAS STREET
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Birmingham (Metropolitan Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- SP 06246 86513
Details
This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 11/02/2013
SP 0686 NW
32/10036
30.6.93
BIRMINGHAM
GAS STREET (south west side)
Number 39
Former Gas Retort House, retort house extension to south-west and attached store
(Formerly listed as Former Gas Retort House)
II*
Former gas retort house, retort house extension and attached store, now workshops, empty at the time
of the inspection. 1822, for the Birmingham Gas Light and Coke Company, retort house extension
with attached store 1828. Part of one of the earliest provincial gas works. Altered late C19 and in
C20. Red brick beneath a corrugated iron roof covering, carved on a roof structure of cast iron roof
trusses, linked by transverse and longtitudinal wrought iron tie rods. L-shaped plan now much
modified internally, with narrow frontage to Gas Street. North-east elevation; rendered and painted
facade, with blind recess to north-west beneath elliptical arch, and tall double doorway to south-east
with flat head. Shallow parapet above moulded cornice band conceals roof hip. Side walls substantially
artexed, south west sidewall originally substantially an open arcade, supported by slender cast iron
columns, three of which survive, incorporated in later back infilling, which contains blocked semi-
circular headed arches. North west side wall with three blocked doorways and a semi-circular headed
window north west end of cross range with C20 openings.
Interior main range of 11 structural bays and a five bay cross range extending north westwards. 2 piece
cast-iron trusses, bolted together to form a 35 foot span the outer ends supported on flat cast-iron plates
set within the brick walling or mounted on the tops of the cast-iron columns. Diagonal lattice work
web links inclined upper members to segmentally arched soffit. The trusses are linked longtitudinally
by a cruciform section central purlin bolted to the central lap joints of the trusses. Modified truss
castings are used for the hipped ends, and, at the junction of the two ranges, a large diagonal truss spans
the diagonal angle. Horizontal wrought-iron tensioned tie rods link truss feet. Inclined upper face of
trusses notched or toothed to accept metal roof lathes which were wedged in position, and to which
the original roofing slates were attached. Extension to retort house at south-west end of 5 bays with 4
cast-iron trusses of slightly modified design, mounted on cast-iron wall plates. To the north side of the
extension was added a 5-bay single storeyed building, thought to have been a coal store. The roof is
carried on 4 stutted queen-post trusses supported on brick sidewall piers The queen posts extended
above the line of the original roof covering and appear to have carried a louvre.
History: The former Gas Street gas works was established in 1818, the retort house being the only
survivor of the complex for which the consultant engineer was Samuel Cleg (1781-1861), the first
specialist gas engineer. The innovative metal roof structure is now a rare example of the early advances
in metal roof design made in the early C19. This example is a combination of wrought and cast-iron
constructional techniques, designed to prevent the internal thrust of the trusses being transmitted to the
side walls, an important factor on the design of a roof which had to withstand the high temperatures
generated in the gas making process. The components for the roof structure are thought to have been
produced in the Phoenix Foundry, Snowhill, Birmingham. Empty at the time of inspection. Former
Gas Works, Gas Street, Birmingham. RCHM 1993.
Listing NGR: SP0624686513
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 410202
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
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