Icknield Street Board School, Birmingham

Image: © A J Paxton Taken: 22 Apr 2023

The school was built in 1883 to designs by Martin & Chamberlain, architects of many of the Board Schools built by Birmingham Corporation following the passing of the Elementary Education Act of 1870. The architect John Henry Chamberlain (who was not related to the mayor, Joseph Chamberlain) believed strongly that schools should provide a healthy, beautiful and uplifting environment for children who lived in the drab, polluted and often slummy conditions of the industrial city. This is reflected in the spacious and soaring Gothic architecture and the in the tower and louvred spire, which were designed to draw in cleaner air from well above ground level; see Wikipedia on the Birmingham Board Schools https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham_board_school , also the Historic England site for a description of this Grade II* listed building https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1076315?section=official-list-entry. The school, or at least its ground floor, appears to be in use as a Hindu temple. In 2021 the Victorian Society listed it as one of their Top Ten Endangered Buildings for that year on account of water damage to the upper storeys https://www.victoriansociety.org.uk/news/top-ten-endangered-buildings-2021-icknield-street-school-birmingham-grade-ii-listed-by-jh-chamberlain-of-martin-and-chamberlain-1883.

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