Bournville Radio Sailing and Model Boat Club Boathouse and associated concrete boating pond

Summary

A boathouse built in 1933 by the Cadbury family, designed for the storage of model boats and facilities for boat club members, with accompanying concrete boating lake.

Reasons for Designation

Bournville Radio Sailing and Model Boat Club Boathouse and Boating Lake are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural Interest:
* the boathouse possesses special interest as an example of a rare type of recreational building;
* the boathouse demonstrates a good level of craftsmanship in its design;
* these buildings are a carefully considered and cohesive scheme demonstrating the intrinsic link between the boathouse and lake.

Historic Interest:
* the Bournville boathouse and boating lake form an important part of Birmingham’s social history, both through the association with the Cadbury family and business, and as a relief scheme for the unemployed.

History

Bournville Model Yachting Club, now known as Bournville Radio Sailing and Model Boat Club, was founded in 1923 and the club originally used the nearby Rowheath Pavillion as their clubhouse. The Cadbury family, local chocolatiers and large employers within the area, were known for their careful consideration of the wellbeing of their employees, and in the early 1930s began an interesting experiment in practical philanthropy. With model yachting already a pastime that received support from their employees, they employed 64 men through the Labour Exchange to undertake construction of a new boathouse and associated boating pool on a previously undeveloped, tree-filled and boggy site. The men worked four days a week; on the remaining day the men were to attend an occupational class such as carpentry or gardening under the supervision of the Bournville Works Education Department. Men were selected who were ineligible for state benefit due to the length of their unemployment, and therefore the aim was to provide the men with work whilst they sought long-term employment. Anecdotally, the shape of the pool was dictated by the wife of Edward Cadbury, who disliked the original plans for a rectangular pool and favoured a more abstract shape.

The Bournville Model Yachting Club boathouse opened on 19th August 1933. The building was constructed to act as storage for the model boats, and to provide a refreshment facility for club members. The design of the building reflects its intended use, with the high ceilings and tall doors able to facilitate the movement of a fully rigged model yacht. The opening of the boathouse was celebrated with an opening ceremony and regatta, at which Edward Cadbury hoisted the club flag and Mrs Cadbury began the first race.

Since the 1930s, the building has been altered at the rear to provide additional storage and extended members facilities; historic photographs depict the previous T-plan form which has now been altered.

Details

A purpose-built boathouse for the storage of model boats and members facilities, built in 1933, and accompanying concrete boating lake.

MATERIALS: the building is of timber construction, with elm weatherboarding and pantile roof.

PLAN: the boathouse was formerly a T-plan but later extension have made this roughly rectangular on plan.

EXTERIOR: the boathouse is clad in tarred rustic elm weatherboarding, and has a hipped, pantile roof on which is a central, squared, louvred cupola, with a pyramidal roof, also pantiled. The central portion is of five bays, with a projecting and gabled porch in the centre of the principal elevation with double wooden doors with arched top; the height of this allows for easy movement of the boats. Windows are timber top-hung sashes. Short hipped roof projections are set back on the ends. Their side elevations are unfenestrated. The rear has a projecting section of two flat roof extensions, also clad in timber weatherboarding, flanking a central hip-roofed bay.

INTERIOR: principally a large open room, primarily for storage of the model boats. The roof timbers are exposed. In the north end of the building is a fixed boat measuring tank which is understood to have been installed in the mid-C20. To the rear and ends of the building, there are further small storage rooms and a member’s kitchenette.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: the teardrop shaped pool set to the north of the boathouse is a purpose-built structure, with an even depth and concrete base.

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 24 March 2025 to replace a link in the source

Sources

Websites
Bournville Radio Sailing and Model Boat Club - History, accessed 30/07/2024 from https://www.bournvillebrsmbc.com/
Clubhouse of Bournville Model Yacht and Power Boat Club, Valley Parkway, accessed 09/04/2024 from https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2832702

Other
Ordnance Survey first edition map, 1938
Marine Models, 1933, p.175
Birmingham Daily Gazette, 21.08.1933, p.20

End of official list entry