General Office Open Studios

Artists include: Anthony Hughes, Sarah Goudie, Pete Whitehouse, Elena Thomas, John Brookes, Caroline Pemberton and Simon Meddings. Rick Sanders and Holly Wardale will be in the print room where they are artists in residence.

General Office celebrates its 8th year this September being a gallery and events venue in the heart of Stourbridge. The building houses a multi-purpose gallery, and Studios. It was originally built for Midland Bank as a Building Society. Completed in 1965, the design of the building includes a single span central space (the General Office) with skylights above. The gallery’s print and workshop room at the rear of the building, housed the bank’s computer suite. In the mid 1960s these would have been wardrobe sized units with tape spools, programmed by punched cards and running off a dedicated power source. The Building society occupied it for a couple of years before the building was taken over by Michael J Broome Associates, consulting building contractors. We have heard that it was Broome and his team that helped design the original building.

There is a secure safe in the central lobby, which the gallery now use for storage. Below the gallery the ground floor premises are used by Central Coop Funeral business. Apparently when the ‘general office’ was  in use by the bank, the loading on the floor was too great, so to rectify this the architects braced the flat roof and suspended chains inside these pillars to help support the floor.

Timings

Saturday 19 September:

10:00 - 16:00

Sunday 20 September:

10:00 - 16:00

Location & directions

General Office Gallery and Studios, First Floor, 12 Hagley Road, Stourbridge, West Midlands, DY8 1PS

Directions:

The gallery is situated on the first floor above Coop Funeral Care. and to the left of Snap Fitness. There is stair access only. No parking on site, however there is on street parking opposite, and car park on Church Street. Please let us know if you need to park near the building for access due to disability/ health needs. https://maps.app.goo.gl/9yLpf8BM1xt18aqe7 The gallery is a two minute walk from Stourbridge Town rail and bus station.

Contact on day:

Simon Meddings

Telephone number:

+447976935413

Booking information

Pre-booking requirement:

Pre-booking not required

Accessibility details

First floor access by stairs only. Let us know in advance if you need to park on site.

Additional information

Max number of people:

10

Estimated duration:

1 hour(s) 0 minute(s)

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