The Black Horse

The Black Horse

A hotel, now a public house, built in 1898 by architect J A Seward of Preston for the Atlas Brewery Company of Manchester.

The building is constructed of red brick with sandstone dressings and slate roofs. It occupies a prominent corner site with a roughly rectangular main building and a rear range set at a slight angle. The building has three separate entrances and is planned to address both Friargate and Orchard Street.

The three-storey exterior features three windows to Friargate, a three-light canted corner and a wide single-bay return to Orchard Street. All elevations have a stone plinth, sill-bands and head-bands to all floors, with a cornice and high stepped parapet carried around the building. Windows are sashed without glazing bars; those on the ground and first floors have leaded glass upper parts, with stained glass at ground level.

The Friargate elevation is dominated by an ornate central entrance with an elliptical-headed doorway featuring a moulded stone surround, panelled door, and a two-light leaded glass overlight (altered to the left side). Very large brackets with carved male and female figures carry a balustraded balcony above. To either side are two-light stone mullioned windows with leaded and stained glass.

The Orchard Street elevation has a tripartite central doorway with side windows and four square leaded glass overlights. The panelled door has integral leaded glass to the upper panel. A prominent cornice with a segmental pediment at the centre depicts a carving of a horse's head. A pair of slightly projecting external chimney stacks rise from the cornice to either side, breaking through and extending above the parapet. The canted corner features an oriel window with a carved apron of garlands and swags; the centre has raised lettering reading BLACK HORSE HOTEL.

The plainer rear range on Lowthian Street has four first-floor windows, a moulded eaves cornice and stone lintels and sills. A third entrance features brick pilasters and corbelled brick brackets supporting a stone cornice. The five-panel door (with a modern Black Horse sign in the upper panel) has a leaded glass overlight. Low set, blocked cellar openings are visible.

Interior

The main Friargate entrance opens into a small vestibule with a moulded plaster cornice, half-panelled walls and a mosaic floor inset with the words THE BLACK HORSE. The inner door is panelled with foliate and floral carved detailing and its glazed upper panel is deeply etched with BLACK HORSE. It has an elaborate timber surround with engaged balusters as jambs and an open pedimented top with a central cartouche. Above is a leaded glazed overlight with fluted pilaster sides.

The vestibule opens into a mosaic-floored passage with a foliate and fruit border, leading to the rear. Either side of the corridor is a smoke room, each entered through original doors with original copper door furniture. The right smoke room has a panelled and glazed door (number 2) with etched glass reading BAR PARLOUR. It has a moulded plaster cornice and an inter-war tiled chimneypiece with timber and glazed overmantle, fixed seating around all sides and bell pushes. The left smoke room has an identical door (number 3) deeply etched with SMOKE ROOM, with a pair of timber and glazed baffles, similarly fitted out and with an identical chimneypiece.

The public bar, originally accessed via the Orchard Street entrance, is now also entered through an arched inserted opening from the main corridor. It has a prominent ceramic semi-circular bar counter in cream and light green with bulging pilasters, decorative brackets and a wooden top. On the corridor side, the bar has a timber counter base with original vertical sliding decorative stained-glass panels above. Within the servery is a simple U-shaped bar back fitting with later additions such as fridges. The walls have a tiled dado of light brown plain tiles, red and light blue decorative tiled panels and a brown, cream and blue ceramic row above. A ceramic fireplace in mainly brown with Fleur de Lys symbols in relief has a mirror in a wood surround above. The floor is mosaic with scrolled and foliate borders, and there is a striking segmented, geometric plaster ceiling. A vestibule entrance from Orchard Street has a mosaic floor and tiled dado; the inner door and side panels have colourful stained and leaded glass panels and copper door furniture. To the rear of the public bar is a U-shaped seating area with fixed seating, above which walls have bevelled mirrored glass and bell pushes, with leaded and stained glass above and wooden panels to the ceiling. Doors to either side lead to short corridors with the gents' and ladies' toilets to the rear, tiled in white with more ornate tiles above a dado.

The first floor is accessed by an ornate open-string timber staircase with a panelled soffit, moulded handrail and a particularly ornate vase-shaped newel post at ground floor level. The first-floor corridor has a moulded cornice and leads to the first-floor function room at the front. This retains moulded cornices and an inter-war timber chimneypiece with a decorative fender and tiled hearth, and bell pushes, though it has been mostly refurbished. The staircase continues to the second floor, opening into a corridor with a moulded cornice; several former hotel rooms open from this corridor, all but one with original four-panel doors in moulded architraves. The former hotel rooms are generally plain with moulded window surrounds, and three retain small cast-iron chimney pieces, two with tiled hearths. A three-panel door at the rear of the staircase leads down to the cellar, the original part of which is vaulted.