MOSELEIANS

Manson and his colleagues believed that no one could deliver for less than £15,000, so all were asked to scale down their plans, this time to a figure of £11,000. Six of the revised designs were deemed suitable and then submitted to interested builders, with the question, "Which of these can you build for around £11,000? George Myers and Co, builders of Barry's Houses of Parliament, adopted the design of another London firm, James and Brown, which they claimed to be able to build for the required sum. So was the final design of Springfield College chosen arbitrarily by its builder. Joseph James's original design had been for a four winged building with a central courtyard but the fourth wing, which would have provided further student accommodation, was deleted to reduce cost, with the provision that it should be capable of reinstatement at a later date, should funds become available. It appears that the trust may have been accused of unfairness of its choice of architect, as James..

Also known as: Spring Hill College, The Moseleians Association

Primary location: Birmingham United Kingdom