A historical building which became a world-first was savaged by critics.
Oriel Chambers on Water Street in the city centre has a rich history, it was designed by architect Peter Ellis and built in 1864. Due to its importance, the building was later listed as Grade I.
However, the building had one defining feature which made it stand out from the rest. It was the world's first building featuring a metal framed glass curtain wall, which has since become a defining feature of skyscrapers around the world.
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But Oriel Chambers was not welcomed by some. The Builder, a business-to-business magazine, savaged the building on January 20 1866.
It said: "The plainest brick warehouse in town is infinitely superior as a building to that large agglomeration of protruding plate-glass bubbles in Water Street termed Oriel Chambers.
"Did we not see this vast abortion – which would be depressing were it not ludicrous – with our own eyes, we should have doubted the possibility of its existence. Where and in what are their beauties supposed to lie?"
But later in the 20th century, Oriel Chambers was regarded much more favourably. Architectural historian, Nikolaus Pevsner called it "one of the most remarkable buildings of its date in Europe". Today, the building looks a little different to when it was first built.
In WWII, a small section of the building was destroyed following an aerial bombing and so an extension was added in the 1950s. In 2006 it was purchased from DCT Developments by Bruntwood for just over £5m who then spent £750,000 refurbishing the building.
Bruntwood sold the building in 2019 to Yakel Property Investment. The building's primary tenant is a set of barristers' chambers, which have been in occupation in various parts since 1965.
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