Elmdon Terminal Building

Image: © Richard Law Taken: 27 Feb 2020

Built in 1938/39, but some years prior to that in gestation and design. The initial ideas for the airport and building were put together by Birmingham City Council in the late 1920s, but the General Depression rather put things on hold for a while. In the early 1930s the idea was resurrected, and a specialist committee formed to review sites including Elmdon. Once the site had been decided on, a terminal building was needed, and the firm of Norman, Muntz and Dawbarn were duly appointed as advisers; one of the partners had recently inspected a number of American airports, so he was considered something of an expert. Graham Dawbarn's other designs include the Aero Clubhouse at Brooklands (probably this image Image) and the BBC Television Centre in London. Design work was well underway by the mid 1930s, and included the very distinctive 'wing' canopies, one of which is seen here, which were intended to represent an airplane, but on a practical level also to provide some shelter for passengers embarking onto aircraft. The airport was ready for civilian operation by mid 1939, just in time for the outbreak of WWII, which saw it more or less immediately taken over by the Air Ministry for bomber deliveries, and as an Elementary Flying School. At the end of hostilities, the site was given back over to civilian and commercial use, and this terminal building then served its intended purpose until the mid 1980s when it was replaced by Image, and has been used as offices since then, at least until fairly recently. It appears to be empty and fenced off at present. At the far end of the building, and seen here above the nearest canopy, lies the original Air Control Tower, below which is a striking curved frontage with windows, balconies and steps down to ground level, but unfortunately all that is 'airside' and out of bounds from the business park from which this picture was taken. A fully detailed history is available at https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101458322-elmdon-terminal-building-birmingham-airport-bickenhill#.XlgXjWj7TIU & https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1458322 where the 2018 Grade II listing details are laid out.

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