The Anatomy and Demise of Decorative Brickwork on Artisans' Housing in Birmingham

Abstract

Birmingham, has possibly the best examples in the UK of decorative artisans' terraced housing, in particular the variety and detail of brickwork. The latter part of the nineteenth century and first decade of the twentieth century saw a rapid expansion of artisans’ housing in the suburbs as the city grew in prosperity. Within this era, artisans' housing was transformed from insanitary squalor within the city to buildings of beauty in the suburbs. This paper focuses on Handsworth where there is a rich variety of ornamentation. The story starts during the early stages of the industrial revolution and develops during the 1870s as social awareness grew and became reflected in both public architecture and the common artisan's house. The streets became an exhibition of flamboyant ornamentation with an unprecedented variety of decorative elements in their façades, in particular brick patterns and motifs. Having survived the bombs of the 1940s and the bulldozers of the 1960s, the decorative brickwork now faces a major threat from paint and render.