Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Warehouse Wednesday: Latif & Sons

Latif & Sons

Birmingham is a short train ride away for me and as we approach either New Street or Moor Street stations, the line is carried on a series of viaducts through a district that used to be heavy with industry.

The buildings still remain, but most have been converted for other purposes.

M Latif & Sons occupy a building on Bordesley Street in Birmingham. Now, they are a wholesalers but what was the building before? It has a definite 1930s feel and was presumably quite a prestigious address in its time.

According to the book Birmingham: History and general directory of the borough of Birmingham 1850,  84 Bordesley Street is the premises of I Marshal & Sons, railway wagon builders, slate & timber merchants. At the same address, but in 1830, are Marshall, Cox & Tibbs, coal and timber merchants. Presumably Marshall bought the others out at some point.

I like the clean lines and modular design of this building. You could copy it in model form pretty easily. Even the details are achievable with layers of plastic sheet. Those folding metal doors would look better in wood but I can't see obvious modifications to the building to accommodate them.

Latif2
 
The alarms and associated wiring are a nice detail. I'm going to try to include something similar on some of the Ruston Quays buildings I think.

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