Tour of the Harborne Village architecture
A look around the architecture in Harborne Village mostly from the Victorian, Edwardian and inter war eras. There are many red brick examples, schools and former and current schools. Some that used to be banks. Mostly the Harborne High Street and some of the surrounding roads.
Harborne is the next suburb along close to Edgbaston and Selly Oak. You can get the no 11A, 11C or 23 or 24 NXWM buses here. The High Street in Harborne Village is a bit like Birmingham's version of London's Shoreditch. This is the modern Harborne Village which is around the High Street area now, while the original village was around St Peter's Church Harborne.
First up a look at this former Victorian bank building on the corner of the High Street in Harborne with Albany Road. For many years it has been a Zizzi Italian restaurant. May have once been a Lloyds Bank here. Not listed. A red brick building that slightly looks like it's in the Georgian style.
dndimg alt="Zizzi on the Harborne High Street" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Zizzi Harborne High Street.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />
Former primary school on the High Street, now The School Yard. With Boston Tea Party on the left and Prezzo to the right. It is on the corner with York Street. A Grade II listed building as The Clock Tower Community Education Centre, it dates to around 1885 by the architects Martin and Chamberlain. Red brick and terracotta with minimum stone dressings; tile roof with decorative ridge tiles. It was the Harborne High Street Junior School from the 1880s until 1960. See this Birmingham Post article from 2014. Before it was converted in 2014 it was an adult education centre known as The Clock Tower.
dndimg alt="Former Girls School - High Street, Harborne" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Former Girls School High Street Harborne.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />
The Junction is a red brick and terracotta pub with stone details dating to 1903. On the corner of the High Street and Vivian Road. This view was from the High Street. The best view is probably from the juncton of Vivian Road and the High Street at the pelican crossing, than the view I got below in 2014. There is a set of Victorian urinals (no longer in use) to the right of here (not far from the no 23 and 24 bus stops).
dndimg alt="The Junction - High Street, Harborne" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/The Junction High Street Harborne.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />
The Vine is one of the pubs on the Harborne High Street. It's to the right of the Royalty. They are at 310 High Street and is part of the Sizzling Pubs chain.
dndimg alt="The Vine - High Street, Harborne" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/The Vine High Street Harborne.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />
The Royalty was a cinema built in 1930 by the architect Horace G. Bradley. It is a Grade II listed building, listed as the The Royalty (Gala Bingo). A red brick structure. It became a bingo hall from 1930 and was still being used for bingo by the time it was listed in 2011. But by 2014 it had closed down and is now quite derelict. A recent fire didn't help, nor the threat of demolition (only 7 years after it was listed). Gala Bingo must have closed down before 2012, as the rear of the site was being used for a Hand Car Wash. The fire was in September 2018 and demolition started October 2018.
dndimg alt="Royalty - High Street, Harborne" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Royalty High Street Harborne.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />
The Green Man is a pub near the end of the Harborne High Street, close to the Edgbaston border. The building was probably built in the 1930s. There is a pub sign with a man and his dog on the left hand side of the building.
dndimg alt="Green Man - High Street, Harborne" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Green Man High Street Harborne.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />
Leaving the High Street behind and a look at buildings on other nearby roads.
Bell Tower seen on War Lane in Harborne. A red brick building, possibly from the Victorian era. I've not been able to find out any information on the building but think it is now used as residential flats.
dndimg alt="Bell Tower - War Lane, Harborne" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Bell Tower War Lane Harborne.JPG" style="width: 100%;" />
These shops seen on the corner of Greenfield Road and Vivian Road in Harborne. R. O. Price, F.G.I and Provisions and Prelude Hair. A stone on the corner on the first floor names it Harborne Quadrant with the date of 1861. For me, this is on the walk from the High Street towards Harborne Park Road to catch the 11A (or after getting off the 11C and walking towards the High Street).
dndimg alt="Greenfield Road and Vivian Road, Harborne" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Greenfield Road and Vivian Road Harborne.JPG" style="width: 100%;" />
The New Inn is on the corner of Vivian Road and Greenfield Road in Harborne. This is the side on Greenfield Road. The pub may have been on this site as early as 1845. A traditional pub, they have had a recent refurbishment.
dndimg alt="The New Inn Harborne" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/The New Inn Harborne Vivian Road Harborne.JPG" style="width: 100%;" />
Seen on Serpentine Road in Harborne (not far from the High Street) is The Harborne Village Social Club and Institute. Mostly just known as The Harborne Village Social Club.
dndimg alt="The Harborne Village Social Club and Institute - Serpentine Road, Harborne" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/The Harborne Village Social Club and Institute Serpentine Road Harborne.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />
On Station Road is Harborne Primary School. Originally opened in 1902 as an Infant School during the Edwardian era. The Junior School followed in 1912. The two schools merged in September 2000 forming the Harborne Primary School it is today. A red brick building, it is on the corner of Emerson Road and Station Road.
dndimg alt="Harborne Primary School" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Harborne Primary School Station Road Harborne.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />
Still on Station Road, we get to a building / house called The Library at no 71. I'm not sure if it ever was a library, but the current Harborne Library is on the High Street.
dndimg alt="The Library - Station Road, Harborne" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/The Library 71 Station Road, Harborne.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />
Next up the former Harborne Fire Station. At the junction of Gordon Road and Rose Road in Harborne. A Grade II listed building built in 1907. Now used as flats / apartments. Red brick with stone ashlar dressing; gabled and hipped plain tile roofs. There is a sculpture of a fireman on the right hand side of the building, where the former doors for the fire engines used to be.
dndimg alt="Harborne Fire Station" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Harborne Fire Station.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />
On Gordon Road in Harborne is a new cafe called Caffiened, it opened in November 2017. They seem to have added a modern wooden look at the bottom complimenting the original red brick look on the upper floors.
dndimg alt="Caffiened - Gordon Road, Harborne" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Caffiened - 4 Gordon Road, Harborne.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />
I'd add Harborne Library, but the only view I've got of it is from the side / close up. So if I return to Harborne, I'll take a new view of it. So expect to see that in a Part 2.
Photos by Elliott Brown.