Masshouse is a development site in the Eastside area of Birmingham, England. Its name derives from a Roman Catholic Church built in 1687. Buildings were cleared to make way for the inner city ring road and car parking in the 1960s. Birmingham City Council wished to expand the city centre eastwards and an elevated road junction, Masshouse Circus was demolished in 2002 to facilitate redevelopment.
The Masshouse area was in Victorian times nothing else but Masshouse Lane, which connected to Dale End and the junction at Albert Street and Duddeston Row. The name derives from the establishment of a Roman Catholic chapel (i.e. for the celebration of Mass) there by a Franciscan priest, Leo Randolph, in 1687, followed by a convent in March 1688. Both were burned down by a mob, instigated by the Protestant Lord Delamer, in November 1688. [1] [2]
Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham (1885) describes the building and destruction of the "mass house": [3]
Masshouse Lane:- Takes its name from the Roman Catholic Church (or Mass House, as such edifices were then called) erected in 1687, and dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen and St. Francis. The foundation stone was laid 23 March, in the above year, and on 16 August 1688, the first stone of a Franciscan Convent was laid adjoining to the Church, which latter was consecrated 4 Sept.. The Church was 95ft long by 33ft. wide, and towards the building of it and the Convent, James II gave 125 "tuns of timber," which were sold for £180; Sir John Gage gave timber valued at £140; the Dowager Queen Catherine gave £10 15s.; and a Mrs. Anne Gregg, £250. This would appear to have been the first place of worship put up here by the Romish Church since the time of Henry VIII., and it was not allowed to stand long, for the Church and what part of the Convent was built (in the words of the Franciscan priest who laid the first stone) "was first defaced, and most of it burrent within to near ye vallue of 400lb., by ye Lord Dellamer's order upon ye 26 of November, 1688, and ye day sevennight following ye rabble of Birmingham begon to pul ye Church and Convent down, and saesed not until they had pulled up ye foundations. They sold ye materials, of which many houses and parts of houses are built in ye town of Birmingham, ye townsmen of ye better sort not resisting ye rabble, but quietly permitting, if not prompting them to doe itt."
From 1749 to 1943 it was the site of St Bartholomew’s Church, Birmingham.
Clearance of the area began in 1961 to make way for the Carrs Lane to Central Fire Station section of Birmingham's inner ring road, which opened in June 1965. [4] [5] An elevated roundabout named Masshouse Circus was then constructed to link the A47 road to the city centre, and intersect with the ring road underpass. There were six pedestrian subways: [6]
Birmingham's inner ring road became known as the "concrete collar" as it restricted expansion of the city centre. [7] In March 2002, Masshouse Circus was demolished to clear land for redevelopment; referred to as the "breaking of the concrete collar". [8] [9] [10] [11] International Development Secretary and MP for Ladywood, Clare Short, while witnessing the start of demolition in March 2002 described Masshouse Circus as an "ugly monstrosity [that] has shamed our city". [12] The work was carried out by Birse Civils and designed by Gifford & Partners [13] in a contract worth £24.2 million. The contractors sought to reuse the 20,000 cubic metres (26,000 cu yd) of reinforced concrete removed during demolition. [14] Over £9 million from the European Regional Development Fund was invested into the project. [15] Pieces of rubble collected from the demolished structure, were put on sale by the Birmingham branch of Friends of the Earth with a price tag of 50p. [16] The land was left as a car park for a number of years as plans and designs for the development were finalised.
A replacement road, the B4100 Moor Street Queensway, to connect the Bullring Shopping Centre with Jennens Road was completed and opened in August 2003.
The initial development was planned in two phases; Phase 1 retained the Masshouse name and Phase 2 was called City Park Gate, [17] after the new Eastside City Park laid out as part of the development.
The planning application for Block I was submitted in October 2004. [18] Construction cost £30 million and the 14-storey building consists of 173 studio, one and two-bedroom apartments. The first residents had moved in by February 2007. [19] The building is clad in 6,000 m2 (65,000 sq ft) of pre-cast panels with a complex mixture of finishes; some contain black polished bands bounded by a white concrete frame and finished to two different levels of exposure. The top floor penthouse apartments are clad with grey polished pre-cast panels. Many of the cladding panels are either concave or convex with pointed ends and most were pre-fitted with windows at the Techrete factory to accelerate the construction process. [20]
Masshouse submitted plans for a second residential building named Block M in August 2006. [21] Construction commenced in August 2007 and was due for completion in 2009, however the collapse of development partner David McLean in 2008 caused construction to be put on hold. McLaren were appointed in place of David McLean and the building was completed in 2011. [22] [23] The development is estimated to have cost £23 million and consists of 167 studio, one and two bedroom apartments with 12 apartments per floor over 14 floors. [24] The apartments went on sale in Spring 2011 under the name Hive, studio apartments started at £90,000 and one bedroom apartments at £110,000. All properties are powered by Birmingham District Energy Company (BDEC), the first time residential homes in the city have benefited from the city's district water heating system the apartments receive power from the new Jennens Road Energy Centre on Aston University’s campus. [25]
The planned development on land fronting Moor Street Queensway had received planning permission in 2007 but economic conditions delayed the start of construction and the scheme folded after it was announced the land was to be earmarked for HS2. The listed Fox and Grapes public house and Island House were to be retained and incorporated within the development, but were demolished in 2018 and 2012 respectively. [26]
Outline planning permission for the development of land used as a car park on the site of Masshouse Circus was granted to Manchester-based developer, Nikal in 2013. [27] In 2016, the scheme known as Exchange Square received planning approval for a total of over 800 apartments in two phases. [28] [29] Phase 1, named 'Allegro', comprises two blocks of apartments for rent and was completed in 2019. [30] Phase 2, included a Premier Inn opened in March 2023, and a 34-storey tower of 375 apartments, retail units and a roof garden topped out in June 2023. [31] [32]
The Bull Ring is a major shopping area in central Birmingham England, and has been an important feature of Birmingham since the Middle Ages, when its market was first held. Two shopping centres have been built in the area; in the 1960s, and then in 2003; the latter is styled as one word, Bullring. When coupled with Grand Central it forms the United Kingdom's largest city centre based shopping centre, styled as Bullring & Grand Central.
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Birmingham Central Library was the main public library in Birmingham, England, from 1974 until 2013, replacing a library opened in 1865 and rebuilt in 1882. For a time the largest non-national library in Europe, it closed on 29 June 2013 and was replaced by the Library of Birmingham. The building was demolished in 2016, after 41 years, as part of the redevelopment of Paradise Circus by Argent Group. Designed by architect John Madin in the brutalist style, the library was part of an ambitious development project by Birmingham City Council to create a civic centre on its new Inner Ring Road system; however, for economic reasons significant parts of the master plan were not completed, and quality was reduced on materials as an economic measure. Two previous libraries occupied the adjacent site before Madin's library opened in 1974. The previous library, designed by John Henry Chamberlain, opened in 1883 and featured a tall clerestoried reading room. It was demolished in 1974 after the new library had opened.
Although Birmingham in England has existed as a settlement for over a thousand years, today's city is overwhelmingly a product of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, with little surviving from its early history. As it has expanded, it has acquired a variety of architectural styles. Buildings of most modern architectural styles in the United Kingdom are located in Birmingham. In recent years, Birmingham was one of the first cities to exhibit the blobitecture style with the construction of the Selfridges store at the Bullring Shopping Centre.
The Big City Plan is a major development plan for the city centre of Birmingham, England.
McLaren is a 69-metre, 21 storey tall office building in Birmingham, England. It was designed by Paul Bonham Associates and built in 1972. It is situated by the Masshouse and Martineau Galleries redevelopment sites. The entrance is on Priory Queensway.
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Queensway is the name of a number of roads in central Birmingham, England, but most often refers to the Queensway tunnel, part of the A38. Queensway is the suffix of several other roads and circuses, such as Smallbrook Queensway and Colmore Circus Queensway; all of which were once part of the historic A4400 Inner Ring Road, often called collectively the Queensway.
10 Holloway Circus is a 400-foot (122 m) tall mixed-use skyscraper in Birmingham city centre, England. It was originally named after the developers, Beetham Organisation, and was designed by Ian Simpson and built by Laing O'Rourke. The entire development covers an area of 7,000 square feet (650 m2). It is the second tallest building in Birmingham and the 74th tallest building in the United Kingdom.
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Martineau Galleries is a proposed mixed-use development for Birmingham, England which was shelved in 2009 but re-approved in 2020. It was to connect the Eastside to the city centre core, a major retail area.
Curzon Gate was a residential development located on the edge of Birmingham City Centre, West Midlands, England, on a prominent gateway site into the city centre. The land was formerly occupied by Castle Cement silos. The 4-acre (1.6 ha) site was located in the Eastside area, which is currently witnessing a large-scale regeneration scheme. It was located next to Curzon Park and opposite Eastside Locks, both of which are developments. It was bounded by a railway viaduct to the south and a road junction on the A4540 road. It was separated from Curzon Park by the Digbeth Branch Canal.
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Island House was a locally listed building in Birmingham's Eastside area, with a roughly triangular footprint. It was built in 1912 by the architect G. E. Pepper, in the Edwardian Mannerist style, ornately decorated with both Ionic and Doric decorations. Originally it was designed to be used as office building and warehouse for the prominent “Messrs Churchill & Co” machine tool company. The opening ceremony of Island House was held in 1913.
Paradise, formerly named Paradise Circus, is the name given to an area of approximately 7 hectares in Birmingham city centre between Chamberlain and Centenary Squares. The area has been part of the civic centre of Birmingham, England since the 19th century when it contained buildings such as the Town Hall, Mason Science College, Birmingham and Midland Institute buildings and Central Library. The site was redeveloped from 1960 to 1975 into the present Paradise Circus based within a roundabout on the Inner Ring Road system containing a new Central Library and School of Music. From 2015, Argent Group will redevelop the area into new mixed use buildings and public squares.
1 Lancaster Circus is a former municipal facility in Birmingham, England. It was the headquarters of West Midlands County Council from its formation in 1974 until its abolition in 1986. The building then served as offices of Birmingham City Council until 2022, when it was closed and sold.
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