The Brooklyn Works is a former site of steel, saw and

file File or filing may refer to: Mechanical tools and processes * File (tool), a tool used to ''remove'' fine amounts of material from a workpiece ** Filing (metalworking), a material removal process in manufacturing ** Nail file, a tool used to g ...

manufacture, it is situated on Green Lane in the

Kelham Island Quarter Kelham Island is one of Sheffield's eleven designated Quarters. Formerly an industrial area, the island itself was created by the building of a goit, or mill race, fed from the River Don to serve the water wheels powering the workshops of the ...

Shows map of Kelham Island Quarter. of the City of

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

, England. In recent years the works have been converted into residential apartments and offices. The structure is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

because of its importance as an example of Sheffield’s industrial heritage. The works stand adjacent to the listed industrial buildings of the

Green Lane Works The Green Lane Works are a disused industrial facility situated in the City of Sheffield, England. The entrance gate to the works is particularly ornate and has been designated as a Grade II* listed building. Nikolaus Pevsner called the gate ''� ...

and

Cornish Place Cornish Place is a listed building situated in the Neepsend area of the City of Sheffield. The building was formerly the factory of James Dixon & Sons, a Britannia metal, Sheffield plate and Cutlery manufacturer. In the late 1990s the disused b ...

in what has been called, ''“the most coherent stretch of industrial landscape in inner Sheffield”''''Pevsner Architectural Guides - Sheffield'', Ruth Harman & John Minnis, , Pages 170 Gives details of architecture and Pevsner quote.

History

The Brooklyn Works were constructed in the mid 19th century for the firm of Alfred Beckett, a manufacturer of steel, saws and files. The building suffered seriously damaged in March 1864 when the

Great Sheffield Flood The Great Sheffield Flood was a flood that devastated parts of Sheffield, England, on 11 March 1864, when the Dale Dyke Dam broke as its reservoir was being filled for the first time. At least 240 people died and more than 600 houses were ...

surged down the

Don Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON *Don (river), a river in European Russia *Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name * Don, Benin, a town in Benin *Don, Dang, a vil ...

valley. Alfred Beckett put in a compensation claim of £123 11s 2d for damage to the works, with local journalist Samuel Harrison writing at the time: Alfred Beckett & Sons Ltd continued to manufacture at the Brooklyn Works until the mid-1960s using the “Matchless”

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from oth ...

, during this time there were several structural additions to the works. In 1967 Alfred Beckett & Sons was purchased by the Tempered Spring Company Ltd of Sheffield. www.onlinebusinesspages.co.uk.
Gives history. The building stood empty for a period of time and was declared a listed building in November 1985 to protect it from demolition. In the 1990s the Sheffield-based firm of AXIS Architecture turned the disused works into residential apartments and offices for small businesses. Among the small businesses now using the Brooklyn Works are a public relations agency, a firm of solicitors and a web design company.

Architecture

The building is constructed from red brick, partly rendered with

ashlars Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruvi ...

dressing with a

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

roof. It is a series of four ranges of two- and three-storey buildings making a square with an inner courtyard. The northern range of buildings fronts onto the River Don and consists of seven blocks of three storey apartments. These are newly built and replace the original single-storey building which was demolished in the 1990s refurbishment. The old cart entrance has been adapted to allow vehicles access to the inner courtyard where there is parking. The restored building has retained some of the original

signage Signage is the design or use of signs and symbols to communicate a message. A signage also means signs ''collectively'' or being considered as a group. The term ''signage'' is documented to have been popularized in 1975 to 1980. Signs are any ...

from the days of Alfred Beckett & Sons.

References

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