Orphanage Road

Coordinates: 52°31′48″N 1°49′37″W / 52.530°N 1.827°W / 52.530; -1.827

Looking down Orphanage Road from the roundabout on Chester Road, showing the bust of Sir Josiah Mason.

Orphanage Road is a road in Erdington, Birmingham and Wylde Green, Sutton Coldfield. Orphanage Road runs from Erdington Library, just before Erdington High Street, to Penns Lane, Sutton Coldfield.

It was originally named Bell Lane and was renamed after the Orphanage which Josiah Mason built there in 1860 to a design by J.R. Botham. Mason also built almshouses adjacent to the orphanage in 1858. The orphanage included a 250-foot tower, famously scaled by Sir Benjamin Stone to take photographs of the panoramic views over Erdington. The orphanage was formally opened by Mason in 1869 and extended in 1876. The Orphanage building was demolished in 1964, in the mid 20th century, when Victorian architecture was generally not highly valued and Anti-Victorianism was influential. The trustees thought the orphanage was, "outdated and expensive to maintain." The tower was demolished by replacing the stones at the base with wooden posts which were then ignited. The site was sold for housing.

At the end of Orphanage Road nearest to central Erdington there are plans under discussion for a large new supermarket.^{[1] [2]}

References

• The Story of Erdington - From Sleepy Hamlet to Thriving Suburb, Douglas V. Jones, 1989, Westwood Press (ISBN 0-948025-05-0)
• The History of Erdington
• Joyce, Frank E. (1977). Metropolitan Development and Change: West Midlands - A Policy Review. University of Aston with Teakfield Ltd. ISBN 0-566-00193-4. 

v t e Streets and roads in Birmingham, England City centre streets Bennetts Hill Broad Street Colmore Row Corporation Street Edmund Street Hurst Street New Street Newhall Street Paradise Street City centre squares Brindleyplace Centenary Square Chamberlain Square Five Ways Old Square St Paul's Square Victoria Square Suburban streets Orphanage Road A roads A34 A38 A41 A45 A47 A435 A456 A5127 A4040 (outer ring road) A4400 (inner ring road) Motorways A38(M) M5 motorway M6 motorway Defunct The Crescent Category