Christopher Wray Lighting Birmingham
Christopher Wray was born on 8 March of 1940 and died in September 2014. He was a young unemployed actor when he discovered his passion for lamps especially antique and vintage lamps. He first sold cheap homemade lamps at a market before turning into a businessman. He opened his first shop in 1964 and after that his career has travelled up so far, becoming the largest lighting retailer in the country.
His shop in Birmingham is the Bartholomew Row, at the east side of the city centre . Around the site there are modern buildings like new apartment blocks and universities, hotels, colleges and student halls. There also a park. The old style of the buildings that the workshop of Christopher is located make a contrast with the new and modern constructions around it.
This is a row of three townhouses. These terraced houses date back in the Geordian Period. There are proofs informing us that these buildings could have been built in 1720 but they're lefted since 2003. If that's true, this fact makes them the oldest buildings in the city centre with great architectural background. The complex of the building is listed Grade II.
These buildings have been a manufacturing hub for Christopher Wray lately and the workshops were between the courtyards of these buildings. They also contain a big number of rooms and mainly they're consisted of timber like the timber staircases. There are also some remains of wallpapers as well as the iron frames of broken windows. So when you walk in you still feel like there is life there, receivng the whole atmosphere of the time they were working.
Maybe the business started first with the making if jewlerry before turning out a lighting factory.
Around the 1970s Christopher Wray took these buildings and moved a part of his business there. And that part in Biringham played a major role in the growing of that business, standing as a great workshop and supplier for the other shops around the country.
Today these buildings need a lot of changes and work for being vital and useful again. They can't be safe and effective for housing or workshops in the way that they stand now.
So early in the next year, changes will start taking place as to transform these old constructions into a block of apartments and workplaces.
His shop in Birmingham is the Bartholomew Row, at the east side of the city centre . Around the site there are modern buildings like new apartment blocks and universities, hotels, colleges and student halls. There also a park. The old style of the buildings that the workshop of Christopher is located make a contrast with the new and modern constructions around it.
This is a row of three townhouses. These terraced houses date back in the Geordian Period. There are proofs informing us that these buildings could have been built in 1720 but they're lefted since 2003. If that's true, this fact makes them the oldest buildings in the city centre with great architectural background. The complex of the building is listed Grade II.
These buildings have been a manufacturing hub for Christopher Wray lately and the workshops were between the courtyards of these buildings. They also contain a big number of rooms and mainly they're consisted of timber like the timber staircases. There are also some remains of wallpapers as well as the iron frames of broken windows. So when you walk in you still feel like there is life there, receivng the whole atmosphere of the time they were working.
Maybe the business started first with the making if jewlerry before turning out a lighting factory.
Around the 1970s Christopher Wray took these buildings and moved a part of his business there. And that part in Biringham played a major role in the growing of that business, standing as a great workshop and supplier for the other shops around the country.
Today these buildings need a lot of changes and work for being vital and useful again. They can't be safe and effective for housing or workshops in the way that they stand now.
So early in the next year, changes will start taking place as to transform these old constructions into a block of apartments and workplaces.
The photos are from : flicklr.com
Life Around The Site
Around the site there are block appartments, a hotel, a park, universities, colleges, student accommodation, a pub and traffic lights. That means tha the area is lively and busy , especially in the day.
Morning-Afternoon:
There is a lot of traffic in the morning and early in the afternoon. Students are going and leaving university, so they walk around the site. Also, there are a lot of other passengers as there is a bus stop, traffic lights and a park near by. The majority of them are young people so there is a lot of noise at these hours. And the noise is also sharpened from the cars moving around.
Evening:
After 6 o'clock, the traffic and the noise thins but there's still young people around the park who mostly smoking.
Night:
At night the area is becoming more dangerous because there is a lot of people around, just some groups drink and smoke there. They have also been noted a number of incidents. But the good thing is that the site is really silent.
MAP
Sun Position around the site:
Hand drawing Site Plan
