Ikon Gallery’s current building is a converted Victorian school in Brindleyplace, Birmingham, and its story is as interesting as the art inside it. The gallery itself began in 1964 as an artist-led, anti-establishment space and only moved into the former Oozells Street School in 1997.
 
The building was originally Oozells Street Board School, designed by John Henry Chamberlain and built in 1877–78 for the Birmingham Board School system. It later served as a boarding school and was part of the city’s 19th-century educational expansion before becoming redundant. When Ikon moved in, the restoration kept the neo-Gothic character while adapting the interior for galleries, education spaces, and a basement archive.
 
Interesting facts...
Ikon has lived in several very odd homes before this building: a glass kiosk in the Bullring, a former mortuary, a unit above New Street Station, and even a former carpet showroom. At one point, its New Street premises were bombed by the IRA because they were next to an army recruitment office. The present building also hides a major transformation: the tower was reconstructed to its original design, and a new glass structure was added to hold the lift and stairs.