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Union Street, WEST BROMWICH, B70 6BP

This vast red brick Gothic pile was built in the 1880s as offices and stores for the cast iron founders Archibald Kenrick & Sons. It is a Grade II listed building, described on the Historic England site https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1342664?section=official-list-entry , but appears to be unused and has a sign on it saying 'Haliburton House, formerly Kenrick Building'. It is a prominent landmark for travellers on the M5 motorway, which passes the site on a viaduct, just visible at the right hand side of the photo. Archibald Kenrick began casting ironware on this site by Spon Lane in the early 1790s; the Kenricks became successful businessmen and prominent local philanthropists, with a number of sites named after them, such as Kenrick Park, as explained by the West Bromwich Local History Society https://www.westbromwichhistory.com/people-places/archibald-kenrick/ . The firm is still in business in neighbouring buildings, privately owned by Spire Manufacturing and making window and door hardware; see their website, which is illustrated with an aerial photo of the buildings https://www.kenricks.co.uk/about-us-2/introduction-to-kenricks/ .

The Cricketers' Arms has a fine gable end mural facing onto Kenrick Way (I have left off the brewery advertising to the left of the wicket, though). The tower blocks in the background are Neale House and Macauley House; they are adorned with the 'butterfly excrescences' (Image]) that feature on many tower blocks in the West Midlands.

This prominent red brick office building with its clock tower is seen by thousands of motorists each day and I have driven past it thousands of times. This building dates from c1890 and was the offices of Archibald Kenrick & Sons. This was a major foundry for domestic ironmongery and was established c1792. The elevated M5 is seen on the extreme right with evidence of ongoing repairs to its substructure

A clock tower as seen from the M5 Motorway.

Victorian business premises on Hall Street, viewed here from the passing M5 motorway. For me this is a memorable landmark on the M5 when travelling through the West Midlands. This Grade II listed building dates from 1880. Historic England description Offices and stores for engineering works. 1880s. Brick with some dressings of stone and terra cotta. Tile roofs. Gothic style. Three storeys. Seven gables face Hall Street. On the ground floor is an arcade of 14 pointed arches, chamfered in three orders. All contain windows except for the 12th, which contains a door. Each of the two central gabled sections is of three bays. The central bays contain paired windows separated by shafts set within a two-storey recess with a cusped round opening under its pointed head. Under the second and fifth gables are two bays, but the fifth has three windows on the first floor. The left hand gable is of one bay. The two right hand gables have paired windows separated by shafts, the upper ones with pointed heads, within pointed recesses. The sixth is of two bays. The seventh is of one bay, its right hand side being cut into by a clock tower. This has paired lancet openings under a pointed stone head with quatrefoil. Above are clock faces within stone gables with tracery decoration. Above is a short spire now covered by felt, with timber lucarnes. Source: https://www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1342664

It is of course Victorian, and the British Listed Buildings website gives the building’s construction date as sometime in the 1880’s, however the GracesGuide website, all about various industrial companies in Britain, states that Archibald Kenrick & Sons built new premises in 1878.