Following significant population growth, largely associated with steam engine manufacturing at Soho Foundry, a local board of health was formed in Handsworth in 1877.[2][3] The board decided to commission a municipal building for its use, to provide Local Board offices, a meeting room for the Board, committee rooms and a large public room, 'together with stables, cart and implement sheds, and other requisite accommodation'.[4] The site selected was on the north side of Soho Road.[5]
The foundation stone for the new building was laid on 30 October 1877.[6] It was designed by Alexander & Henman of Stockton-on-Tees in the Gothic Revival style, built in red brick and terracotta at a cost of £20,662 and was completed in 1879.[7] The design involved a main frontage of 16 bays facing onto Soho Road. The left-hand section of five bays formed a public library and the right-hand section of 11 bays formed the council house. A Fire Engine Station was included at the rear.[8]
The library section, which was asymmetrical, featured a polygon-shaped bay which was projected forward and surmounted by a turret, and there was an arched doorway in the right-hand bay. The library opened, 'with a collection of about 5,000 volumes' on 1 May 1880;[9] it quickly grew and the building was extended in 1891.[10]
The council house section, which was broadly symmetrical, featured a five-stage tower in the central bay, flanked by connecting sections of two bays each, and by end sections of three bays each (which were slightly projected forward and gabled); the other bays were generally fenestrated with bi-partite or tri-partite mullioned and transomed windows.[1] The tower had an arched doorway in the first stage, an oriel window in the second stage, lancet windows in the third and fourth stages, with machicolations above, and a timbered clock in the fifth stage. The clock was by the local firm of clockmakers, W. F. Evans;[11] it sounded the hours and quarters on three bells, made by a Birmingham bellfounder, James Barwell.[12]
In 1894, the board was succeeded by Handsworth Urban District Council,[13] which used the Council House as its offices,[14] but the building ceased to be the local seat of government when area was annexed by Birmingham City Council in 1911.[15]
The council house was subsequently leased to the Handsworth School of Dress Design, which was a branch of the Birmingham Government School of Design. The Birmingham Government School of Design became part of Birmingham Polytechnic in 1971.[16] In the late 1970s, the vacant building was acquired by Handsworth Technical College (later City College Birmingham),[17] which merged with South Birmingham College to form the Handsworth Campus of South and City College Birmingham in 2012.[18]
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