Location 29
The Building
Location29 is us.
An art gallery in the Jewellery Quarter, housed within the former jewellery workshops at 29-32 Mary Street. The shops were built by Kimberley & Son Factors in the mid 1820s, on a speculative basis. A bold move. The early 1820s were characterised by civil disturbances, spawned by a cost of living crisis. Yet there was a zeitgeist of positivity – in 1822, Britain repealed the death penalty for over a 100 crimes, and punishments such as drawing, quartering and flagellation, fell out of favour.
Kimberley let the workspace to multiple artisans and craftsmen, such as gun and pistol makers, gilt and plated button makers, modeller and chasers, heraldic engravers – trades reflecting the kaleidoscope throng of Birmingham’s workers. Having scoured the trade directories from 1820s to 1975, there is n’er a record of a woman trading from these premises.
The property was derelict. Save for evicting debris, mattresses, a carton of fake blood, sediment and generic sludge from a troll’s skip, Location29 has preserved everything that remained from the original workshops. Windows, beams, floorboards, gas pipes (which revolutionised the use of blowpipes in jewellery making), nails banged into the wall – all are there.
Location29 narrates a social history through bricks, mortar and scars of industrial use. There’s an opportunity to learn, as well as critique, much from its preservation. Not all things warrant preservation, and it’s those things Location29 confronts, through the medium of art.
