The Albion Public House

The Albion Public House is a late 19th-century public house and attached outbuildings, built in 1896 with later 20th-century alterations. It was designed by William and Segar Owen for the Greenall Whitley brewery of Warrington. The building is constructed of red brick with sandstone and terra-cotta dressings, and has a Welsh slate roof. It is designed in a Free Renaissance style.

The plan incorporates a courtyard layout, with the public house on the street corner to the left and a range of outbuildings attached to the right, enclosing a service courtyard. The front (east) elevation is two storeys and attics, with four bays and a wide, advanced Dutch gable to the left. A canted bay window is on the ground floor, and the principal entrance is to the right, featuring an ashlar surround to the doorway and integral sidelight, beneath a shallow-arched overlight supported by massive brackets and a flat canopy. The entrance door is panelled. Above the entrance are four shallow-arch-headed windows with terra-cotta surrounds, one of which is blind, with small panes in the upper parts of the other three. A gable apex has a single attic window, terra-cotta copings, pilasters and cornice, and a segmental pediment with a finial. To the right is a set-back range with two windows and a blocked doorway with a sub-divided overlight. A diminutive gable to the far right has two small windows facing the street. A deep, banded and bracketed eaves cornice runs along the top. A tall brick chimney has decorative terra-cotta capping.

The south side elevation has five bays, with the central entrance bay delineated by a narrow, pedimented gable with pilasters. The doorway and sidelight are within a massive ashlar surround, both with arched overlights. Above the doorway is a three-light mullion and transom window, and two windows to the gable apex. Mullion and transom windows are on either side of the doorway, with two to the right each of two lights, and one to the left of four lights. A single-storey lean-to with a Dutch half-gable extends further to the left.

The interior has seen some modifications to the plan form, but evidence of the original room layout remains clearly visible. Original interior features include fixed bench seating, a principal staircase with turned balusters, carved newel posts, and marble hearth surrounds.

An attached range of outbuildings runs north, including a stepped stable and cartshed range with an attached boundary wall, incorporating an entrance gateway and gatepiers. The stable has a gabled loft canopy to a taking-in door, with a flat arched opening and glazed and louvred windows below. The lower cartshed has a wide, flat-headed opening and a shallow arch-headed opening to the street gable.

The Albion Public House and outbuildings represent a substantial and richly-detailed late 19th-century complex, demonstrating significant investment in high-quality premises, including a purpose-built service courtyard, and reflecting the skills of a notable architectural practice, commissioned by an influential regional brewing company.