The Birkin Building

The Birkin Building was the international headquarters of the world-leading Birkin & Co. lace manufacturers and occupies one of the most significant sites in

Nottingham’s industrial and architectural heritage. 2 - 12 Broadway, Nottingham.

The Birkin Building stands proudly on the front cover of illusion of a cul-de-sac from either end, thus making it more attractive Made’s September/October edition this year. Here we to visitors. Unique to The Lace Market is a boundary line installed by have a peek at a little of the history behind the beautiful Richard Birkin to mark his territory. From then on, Broadway became piece of architecture standing firmly in its place in history mostly synonymous with the Birkin family. in Nottingam City Centre.

The town of Nottingham in the mid-1800’s was almost completely built Broadway officially became the headquarters of Birkin & Co housing up and political wrangling prevented any new builds on the open sites finishing rooms, stocks rooms, warehousing, sales, accounts and to both the north and south of the town. As the industry declined and administration. hosiers left their large gentry houses of the ‘old borough’, conveniently located close to both the newly opened post office in 1840 and railway station in 1836, this provided the ideal solution for the lace manufacturers The Architecture in desperate need of warehouses with good infrastructure links. So, The gateway, which leads to the Jacoby warehouse on the southern alongside Thomas Adams, Richard Birkin began transforming the area side, incorporated some delightful stonework detail. Etched into into The Lace Market we know today. the stone were Birkin’s initials and bee emblem, an architect’s motif

Richard Birkin purchased at auction Plumptre House in February 1953 (Garland and Holland) and a builder’s motif of hammer and trowel with for £8,410 - one of the most prestigious mansions and standing next the date 1855, the year the warehouse was completed. to St Mary’s Church. This was then demolished to make way for a new As manufacture was moved to New Basford, Nottingham and Glasgow, of dividers and squares, together with the builder’s initials G and H set of warehouses and a new street, ‘Broadway’, which was specifically The building of the warehouse was problematic following the discovery designed by architect T.C. Hine with a curve in the centre to give the of a medieval tiered sandstone cave system under the site, used for the brewing of ale. Problematic also was the rooflight, one of the largest in The Lace Market, and designed to allow light to flood the sales rooms below. This was especially important as the rear of the building was almost completed devoid of windows.

While the natural light allowed the ladies on the top floor to complete such intricate work as mending, drawing and jennying the lace, it caused something of a problem in the Second World War when it had to be covered in black out curtains to prevent light seeping out and thus foil the Luftwaffe.

As already established, the curve of the building was designed to allow the ‘cul-de-sac’ impression. However, another story exists that this curve was created on the order of Richard Birkin so that the perimeter of the building was one foot longer than that of Messrs Adams and Page, whose rival warehouse was being built only a few yards away. Although architecturally inferior to the ‘Adams Building’, Birkin & Co. could now claim their building was bigger, reinforcing the adage that size matters!

The Creation of Birkin & Co Richard Birkin JP (1805 – 1870) started his early life at Belper’s cotton mills, working there for 10 years, training as a stocking frame knitter before working on a point net machine and then becoming a bobbin net maker. At 17 he moved to work with a relative, learning the art of ‘cold twist net’ before moving jobs again three years later, this time to work as a ‘journeyman’ with Richard Biddle. After just 6 months at Biddle’s and aged only 20, Richard was invited to join Biddle in the £250 purchase of a machine to make ‘net’. Thus it started the significant partnership ‘Biddle & Birkin’ which would lead to the creation of one of the UK’s most prestigious lace manufacturers.

An external shot of the Birkin Building after renovation.

Broadway, 25.

Made would like to thank Spenbeck for their assistance with this feature and the imagery provided. To discover all about the Birkin family, history and ownership of this beautiful building visit: www.thebirkinbuilding.co.uk You can also see a virtual tour for an insight of what it was like to work in the building. The Birkin Building now houses award-winning commercial creative space Spenbeck. For information on renting a creative space please visit www.spenbeck.co.uk www.spenbeck.co.uk

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