22-24 Vittoria Street
Built in the late 1820s 22-24 Vittoria Street was a type of building known as three-quarter or Birmingham Houses. Formed of six back-to-back houses known as Hill’s Buildings, they were set around a courtyard. Shopping (workshops) was added behind No.24 after the 1880s. Residents at Nos 22-24 first appear in the census records in 1861. Like much of the Jewellery Quarter the residential properties were gradually re-purposed for industrial use or through a type of hybrid live-work model adopted by residents.
Restoration Project
Of the six houses, only the front four remain. The building was gradually altered over the years for various uses, including use as a broadcasting studio in the 1990s. One of its chimney stacks had been removed, a ground floor sash window had been replaced with a larger window, and the glass bricks in the pavement, lighting the cellar below, had been filled in. As well as general repairs across the building to bring it into a good condition, these historic features were restored with a JQTH grant. Although not listed, the conserved building is a good example of a type of house once common in Birmingham but now rare. Nos 22-24 are one of only a few surviving groups of back-to-backs in the Jewellery Quarter.
Before
After
