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Birmingham, Drews Lane, Wolseley

There is one other large survivor from this period, the Wolseley factory in Drews Lane, Washwood Heath. By this time Wolseley was part of the Vickers engineering group. Their original factory in Adderley Park was greatly expanded during the war but it was completely demolished in the 1970s. Drews Lane was designed for component production, but slowly took over car assembly during the twenties, particularly after Wolseley was taken over by Morris in 1926.

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Birmingham, Drews Lane, Wolseley Factory

The Drews Lane buildings date from 1915-6 and were partly built in the name of Electrical and Ordnance Accessories, another firm in the Vickers group. They were designed by a local architect and surveyor, J.J. Hackett. There is a very long two storey street front, in red brick with stone bands, divided into bays by simple pilasters, and the central bayGlossary Term is emphasised by a big semicircular pedimentGlossary Term: not in Ball's or even Cooke's class as architecture, but it certainly has an impact.