A factory building that has remained empty for over a century has prospects of transforming into a café and showroom for artwork and antiques.
The factory in the Quarter, 48 Frederick Street, dates back the nineteenth-century, an ancient thing with the promise of new life brimming on the horizon – arriving the form of coffee and antiques.
The Grade II listed building’s plans have been submitted and it is to be run by Ana Rocha Bar & Gallery – a company that has experience with venues similar to this one abroad.
The Spanish-based partners of Edgar Vera and Ana Rocha specialise in sales, more specifically, in art, antiques and much more.
Full-time and part-time opportunities are set to arise along with the project, meaning more job roles available in the Jewellery Quarter.
Frederick Street is claimed as one of the busiest streets in the Quarter, hoping for the factory’s gallery to gain quite a lot of footfall.
Harc Design Bureau have arranged a design statement about the factory, discussing the 3,380 sq ft building’s original build back in 1870, including the addition of the workshop around the back that appeared approximately a decade later.
“It was listed in the 1870s as being occupied by ‘watch manufacturers’ and went through various incarnations including general jewellers, paper merchants, gold ring manufacturers and a metal processing firm,” the report disclosed.
“It was the offices of Reliable Stamping Limited until it became vacant in 2010. The building was then purchased by the applicant who has since carried out the conversion of the basement and the two-storey frontage building into offices.
“The primary features that contribute to its scale, such as the external door proportions and positions and the existing roofscape, are all retained and restored as part of the works.
“The design rationale is to retain what is original and of value and restore any element that has been lost over the years back to its original state, whilst still referencing the former industrial use of this part of the building as distinctly different to the more residential feel of the rest of the property.”
Another renovation project in the Jewellery Quarter which is sure to be a success!
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