Description

SO 99 NW WOLVERHAMPTON UPPER VILLIERS STREET

895-1/5/10010 Automotive House

II

Car factory , now works, and empty at the time of inspection. 1905-6, with minor late C20 alterations. By Joseph Lavender, F.R.I.B.A., for the Sunbeam Motor Car Company, and incorporating the site of the first workshop in which a Sunbeam motor car was produced.
Red brick with painted dressings beneath a Welsh-slated roof 3-storey street frontage office and showroom range, with 4 bay single storey north-light workshop range behind.
North-west elevation; 3 storeys, 11 bays, with 3-bay central entry defined by full-height pilasters, the centre bay with a diminutive pediment, and slightly advanced. Double doorway with panelled doors below keyed semi-circular head, all beneath a segmental pediment. The bays either side of the doorway each have a 3-light window, originally comprised of 3 sash windows, some now altered, beneath a segmental brick arch with an advanced keyblock which links with a sloping string course. Above, at first and second floor levels are coupled sash windows with sma1l-paned upper sashes. This pattern is repeated in each of the 2 bays flanking the entrance bays. The 2 bays at either end of the frontage range sit beneath a broad coped gable with a keyed semi circular arched window above the window head cornice, matching that of the entrance bay. The north-east end bay has full height double doors which formerly led into a covered yard. 4 bays of north light sheds to rear with strutted trusses supporting a ridge beam. Strutted king post trusses to 3-storey range. Original plans and elevations, signed by the architect and dated 31 Jan. 1905 survive. Automotive House was the first purpose-built works of the Sunbeam Motor Car Company, and one of the earliest car factories in England.

Listing NGR: SO9123297104

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26544495

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)