Highbury Hall – a new future?

Highbury Hall, Moseley, by Kate&Drew on www.flickr.com

You will find a  fairly detailed piece from Cllr Martin Mulaney about the future of Highbury Hall and Chamberlain House in Moseley on the The Stirrer website, click here.

He makes some interesting points about how we currently read/use the buildings:

My concern is that we need to understand whether Chamberlain House should be retained. For example who was the architect and does it add or detract from Highbury Hall?

Points to remember about Chamberlain House was that it was built on the footprint of the glasshouses of Highbury Hall. When it was built in 1940, the 10 foot high wall that runs the length of Queensbridge Road, also extended into Yew Tree Road up to the present entrance of Highbury Hall.

What this indicates to me is that Chamberlain House was built with the historic layout of Highbury estate in mind. It was also built at a time when it would not have been viewed from Queensbridge Road, due to the 10foot high boundary wall. What we see of Chamberlain House from Queensbridge Road is really the functional back of the building.

It’s comparable to judging some of the fine buildings along New Street, by looking only at their rear elevations.

This follows a meeting, reported here by the Birmingham Posts, to discuss the future of the Trust which currently runs the Grade II* council owned buildings.