There are three buildings around the Birmingham Canal Navigations near Brindleyplace that are historic. The first is The Brasshouse (now a pub) on Broad Street. The Brewmasters House is near The ICC. And a bit further down is The Malt House (also a pub) close to Arena Birmingham (was the NIA / Barclaycard Arena) and the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal at Old Turn Junction.

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The Brasshouse, The Brewmasters House and The Malt House - historic canal buildings around the BCN and Brindleyplace


The Brasshouse, The Brewmasters House and The Malt House - historic canal buildings around the BCN and Brindleyplace


There are three buildings around the Birmingham Canal Navigations near Brindleyplace that are historic. The first is The Brasshouse (now a pub) on Broad Street. The Brewmasters House is near The ICC. And a bit further down is The Malt House (also a pub) close to Arena Birmingham (was the NIA / Barclaycard Arena) and the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal at Old Turn Junction.


The Brasshouse

Now a pub and restaurant at Brindleyplace, this building was first built as the Birmingham Brasshouse in 1781 with alterations in 1870. Now a Grade II listed building a 44 Broad Street, Birmingham. The Brasshouse is a Traditional Free House and is also home to the Celebrity Restaurant (also known as the Celebrity Indian Restaurant). This view from Broad Street seen during late December 2009. Built of brick with stucco dressings and a slate roof.

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This view also from December 2009. Now a service road for Brindleyplace, going off Broad Street is what used to be known as the Brasshouse Passage. There is an entrance to the bar and restaurant from this side. The Birmingham Metal Company founded the Brass House in 1781. Here they heated zinc and copper to produce brass. To make toys, buckles, buttons and badges. More information here Brass Founders and the Brass House.

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I found a route from Brindleyplace along Brasshouse Passage leading back to Broad Street during early January 2019. And saw this view of the pub. It's amazing to think that this Georgian building has survived the centuries and has been restored in recent decades into the pub it is now (probably around the time that Brindleyplace was built in the 1990s).

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One of my earliest photos of The Brasshouse taken in April 2009 when I started going around Birmingham with my fist digital camera. This view from the Canalside on the Birmingham Canal Navigations Main Line, not far from the Broad Street Tunnel. The tower block behind is the Quayside Tower on Broad Street.

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This February 2019 view of The Brasshouse from Brindleyplace. The view you would see if you leave Broad Street and are walking towards Central Square at Brindleyplace. Walked past this side before, but this is the first time I have got a close up view of it (not counting my canal view from 10 years earlier - see above photo). They are now calling the Celebrity Restaurant, the Celebrity Indian Restaurant! Quayside Tower again is visible even from up here! There is a stepped wall near the fence above the Broad Street Tunnel (the tunnel is closed for the Midland Metro Alliance works as of early 2019).

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The Brewmasters House

A Grade II listed building, there are different dates from the early 19th century suggesting from when it was built. The 1978 listing, as 7 St Peter's Place, says it dates to circa 1800. The brown Birmingham Conservation Trust plaque says c. 1805. While Pevsner says 1816! The house is made of brick with a hipped slate roof with deep flat eaves. This view from April 2009 from Brindleyplace opposite (round about when I started taking photos around Birmingham).

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This view also from April 2009 looking towards The Brewmasters House and The ICC Birmingham. The Birmingham Conservation Trust undertook a programme of restoration during 1983 to 1984 (this was well before the construction of The ICC or even Brindleyplace!). The building was glazed by the City Architect in 1989.

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I went back in February 2010 for some more close up photos of The Brewmasters House. There is also a nearby bridge called the Brewmasters Bridge, which links behind the house and Brindleyplace (near the Sealife Centre). There is a brown plaque from the Birmingham Conservation Trust, dating the buildings erection to 1805 and it's restoration to 1984!

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Another February 2010 view from Brindleyplace near the Waters Edge looking towards The Brewmasters House. It is now just offices. Could make a nice little canal museum about what the Brew Master did here in the 19th century! The steps behind up from The ICC go past the ICC Energy Centre and you can walk to Cambridge Street from here.

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This February 2010 view I think from the Brindleyplace / ICC footbridge (it has steps down the canal side). The Brewmasters Bridge is seen on the left, and behind The NIA Birmingham (refurbished and renamed in 2014 as the Barclaycard Arena and in 2017 Arena Birmingham). Three Brindleyplace, a Venetian style office building is on the left.

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The Malt House

This building was originally the Kingston Building, built in 1803. It is near Old Turn Junction where the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal (Cambrian Wharf and Farmers Bridge Locks) meets the Birmingham Canal Navigations Main Line (the Oozells Loop is also nearby). It was built as a nail warehouse. This view from April 2009 when I started to take photos around Birmingham. The Malt House is remembered for those photos / videos of US President Bill Clinton drinking a pint of beer on the outdoor balcony in 1998 during the 19G8 summit held that summer in Birmingham.

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This view in June 2009, by this point I had changed cameras. The NIA is seen to the left. The footbridge on the right leads to a Canal Garden that was installed in the summer of 2012 with a model narrowboat (I think it is still there). A remnant of the annual City Centre Floral Trail. Behind the pub is a Grade II listed warehouse at 79 Cambridge Street dated to 1820. The remains of the loading bays can be seen, there is still doors there, but there is now grills in the way, and some have been bricked up.

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This view below was taken during May 2014. Behind The Malt House, the National Indoor Arena was been transformed into what was to be known as the Barclaycard Arena. It reopened in late 2014. And kept that name to sometime in 2017, when it was renamed again to just Arena Birmingham. In the years since my earlier photos, the pub had some new pub signs installed around the building.

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In March 2016, the flags of the Six Nations were flying outside of The Malt House. Italy, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France and England. The Barclaycard Arena is seen (now completed) behind the pub. The bridge visible in this photo is the Brewmasters Bridge. The tourists that were around the city centre canals (at the time), were probably there also for the Badminton at the Barclaycard Arena. The view was taken from Brindleyplace.

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It is now July 2018 at The Malt House, and the bunting was out for the World Cup 2018, being held that summer in Russia. A nice blue sky, and it was probably hot! Arena Birmingham seen to the left. The trees and flowers in full bloom! For the first time in 28 years England made it to the Semi Final, but they lost (again). In the 3rd Place Play-off they ended up in 4th, like in 1990. France won that years World Cup for the first time in 20 years (since they last won it in home in France in 1998).

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Photos taken by Elliott Brown.