Plan to restore historic home in major scheme
Old villa to form centrepiece of Jewellery Quarter flats
AHISTORIC Jewellery Quarter villa could form the focal point of a major new housing scheme on a derelict site.
Elevate Property Group has submitted plans for 14 townhouses, 42 apartments and 3,500 sq ft of shops in a development to be called Heaton House Lofts, in Camden Street.
The homes will include three- and four-bedroom townhouses and oneand two-bedroom apartments and lofts.
But the development will also include the restoration of a large four-bedroomed Georgian villa, with a paved garden terrace and its own private garage, in recognition of the site’s historical roots.
The original Heaton House was a 19th century villa in Camden Street, which at the time was part of the middle class suburban developments that grew up on the fringes of the city centre in Birmingham.
The development was subsequently swallowed up in the expansion of Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter and, by the end of the century, Heaton House had been converted to form part of a large industrial works.
Historic buildings consultant Richard Morriss said: “The complex of buildings centred on Heaton House is a good example of the industrialisation of the middle class suburban fringes of Birmingham in the later 19th century – a process particularly common in the area to the north of the town centre in what is now called the Jewellery Quarter.
“The original house would have been a rather fine example of a gentleman’s suburban residence of the early 19th century, set within its own miniature landscaped park.”
Heaton House was the home of a leading Birmingham merchant, William Cotterill, and was said to be the second oldest residential property in Birmingham.
The building and its outbuildings were subsequently altered to fit their new roles in industry and in recent years have become derelict. Now Elevate Property Group has undertaken to bring the site back into use. Following discussions between Elevate’s professional advisers and Birmingham city planners, a way forward has been found and the proposals for Heaton House Lofts will be submitted for planning approval this spring.
The company is applying to create 3,500 sq ft of commercial space on Powell Street, for offices or a possible leisure or gym complex.
Elevate currently has in excess of a million square feet of development either under construction or in the planning and legal process.