THE ARGENT CENTRE, JEWELLERY QUARTER, BIRMINGHAM
The Argent Centre is a large, grade II* listed building which dominates the entrance to Birmingham’s celebrated Jewellery Quarter. It was erected in 1862-63 for W.E. Wiley & Co. pencil and gold pen manufacturers, to the designs of the Birmingham architect John George Bland. As well as the factory, there was a Turkish bath within the complex.
We led a programme of masonry repairs which was completed in 2021, grant aided by Jewellery Quarter Townscape Heritage, a National Lottery Heritage Fund scheme. The project also included the reinstatement of two missing corner turrets, known only from engravings. These have been rebuilt and clad in a mixture of tiles based on those salvaged from the truncated turrets, with new stainless-steel decorative finials. The Birmingham & West Midlands group of the Victorian Society named Oliver Architecture as the winner of the 2021 Conservation Award for our restoration of the Argent Centre.
We led a programme of masonry repairs which was completed in 2021, grant aided by Jewellery Quarter Townscape Heritage, a National Lottery Heritage Fund scheme. The project also included the reinstatement of two missing corner turrets, known only from engravings. These have been rebuilt and clad in a mixture of tiles based on those salvaged from the truncated turrets, with new stainless-steel decorative finials. The Birmingham & West Midlands group of the Victorian Society named Oliver Architecture as the winner of the 2021 Conservation Award for our restoration of the Argent Centre.