Zellig at Devonshire House - Image - 06
Looking up over the 'ogee' arched end bay of Devonshire House
Following on from last weeks post on the newest (looking) addition to Digbeth, this post will at look at the latest development, which after months of being hidden behind scaffolding, re-acquaints us with one of the most familiar façades on Digbeth High Street, Deritend, that of Devonshire House.
This Grade II listed building was completed in 1902 as offices for the Birds Custard factory which occupies an adjoining site and forms part of the 5 acre Custard Factory complex of factory buildings, originally designed by Hamblins architect Augustus William Brenchley Macer-Wright.
For those that don’t know the history, it was chemist Alfred Bird senior who invented a way of making custard without the use of eggs (an allergen to his wife) and it was some years later in 1902 that his son Sir Alfred Bird established the factory at the Devonshire Works to make the now famous Bird’s custard.
However the buildings became semi-derelict after production was transferred to Banbury in 1963, but were recently rejuvenated under the vision of Bennie Gray who, along with his son Lucan, was also responsible for the redevelopment of the neighbouring Fazeley Studios currently housing a host of local creative talents, from Ikon Gallery Eastside to Microsoft’s Rare.
This latest £10 million redevelopment, of Devonshire House, forms the latest addition to the Custard Factory enterprise as ‘The Zellig’ and was part-funded by Advantage West Midlands by nearly £4m, and is effectively the third phase, after Glenn Howells refurbished the Custard Factory proper, The Scott House, as phase one, at a cost of around £2.5m. This was then followed up with phase two, which was originally named ‘The Greenhouse’, but now referred to as ‘Gibb Square’ after its Gibb Street location.
This third phase by Weedon Partnership adds 65,000 sq ft to the existing 120,000 sq ft of the preceding phases and adds another 100 odd extra studios. There is also a ‘Nomad’ social space where Custard Factory tenants can socialise, play pool, hook-up to Wi-Fi or see clients in meeting rooms. However the street frontage will be aimed at art galleries and shops in an effort to stimulate the footfall and continue the regeneration of the area.
The original building that is Devonshire House proper is built in red brick and terracotta with stone dressings, four storeys high, 3 bays wide and also has an additional attic storey to the central bay.
The Ground floor ‘Piano Nobile’ consists of 6 terracotta recessed windows with 4 central ‘anse-de-panier’ arches (basket handled or flattened arched) whilst the 2 outside bays have ogee gablets.
The 3 storeys above are separated vertically by protruding polygonal brick shafts with decorative finials which divide the bays whilst the floors are separated horizontally by wide bands of bricks either side of the central decorative terracotta bay. This central decorative bay contains the inscribed bands of ‘Alfred Bird and Sons Limited’ to the 1st floor, ‘Devonshire Works’ to the 2nd floor and the years 1837 and 1902 flanked with decorative foliage to the 3rd floor.
The first floor has coupled twin-light transomed windows with arched lights whilst the upper floors have mainly arched window couplets to the outer bays with cross type windows to the central bay.
At the very top lies a decorative arched parapet divided centrally with a shaped gable with two arched windows surmounted by delightful pinnacled tiled panel of a ship in full sail.
The outer wings are later additions which are quite austere in comparison but still important historically and form part of the new Zellig complex.
So what lies behind this fabulous restored facade ? – Accessed from the Heath Mill Lane, one encounters a series of artwork filled atriums and lightwells upon entering The Zellig.
Within the first atrium hangs a ferrous-looking sculputure, called ‘The Deluge’ which captures the dynamic sweeping free-fall of a man within the gleaming whitewashed brick walled enclosure. It is by the artist Toin Adams, who is also responsible for The Custard Factory’s Digbeth Dragon and The Green Man.
Venturing past into the next space via the limestone flooring and descending via a modernist glass balustraded stair space, one encounters the next artwork within another atrium space. Although this is also roofed with the now familiar ETFE translucent roofing material first encountered in the mid-nineties, this is a much larger white walled masonry lightwell and contains the colossal ‘Chaos’ sculpture by Philip Watts Design, the Ironmongery specialists.
This 5 storey sculpture is their single biggest commission ever undertaken, using approximately 3 miles of white spray painted steel tubing containing three ‘Tee’ shaped glass walkways carried on tree-like structural legs which terminate at the base with organic pool-like bases.
Further on, the final lightwell is fact an architectural ode to Buckminster-Fuller where a glazed geodesic hemi-sphere of a dome not only allows light to flood into this lower level, but also provides wonderful glimpses of the surrounding Custard Factory buildings. To the back of the building lies a rear access walkway bridge of corten steel, reflecting the industrial heritage of the site but also continuing to aim for the contrast with the pristine interior that lies behind the ‘edgier’ enclosing facades.
The development is extremely successful in providing some bright, light-filled studios and spaces surrounded by some impressive pieces of art /sculpture, without detracting too much from the history of the building and the Custard Factory site as a whole. Critics may harshly point out that the historic fabric is not always evident once inside, however the architects have tried to retain and reveal what they could. Thus we can only applaud this development and look forward to the next phase that the regeneration of Digbeth has in store for us.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by kal@LotusArchitects and mann@LotusArchitects, lotusarchitects. lotusarchitects said: [Arty-tecture.com blog post] Old Face Re-Acquainted @custardfactory 's The Zellig, Digbeth – http://bit.ly/bM0G0p [...]