The Stork Hotel Public House

The Stork Hotel is a public house dating from the mid-19th century, remodelled around 1910. It occupies a corner site in Birkenhead, with elevations facing Price Street and Adelphi Street. The building is constructed of glazed brick and tile at ground floor level, white-painted brick above, and has a Welsh slate roof with end and mid-roof stacks.

The plan consists of a corner site, with two street elevations and a passage surrounding the public bar and leading to other bars and a staircase. The exterior is three storeys high, with a chamfered corner. The Price Street elevation has five bays, and the Adelphi Street elevation has three bays. The corner angle originally featured a semi-circular arch-headed doorway, now blocked. The Adelphi Street elevation has a central entrance flanked by tripartite windows to either side. Both elevations feature brown glazed brick facing with blue tile pilasters flanking the windows and doorway, along with blue enriched sill bands to the windows. The Price Street elevation has a doorway flanked to the left by a tripartite window, and to the right by two fixed light windows with transom lights. A mosaic apron is situated in front of the Price Street entrance. Etched and stained glass with bold Art Nouveau patterns is present. Sash windows are found on the first and second floors of both elevations, with plain cill bands to the first floor and smaller openings to the second floor.

The interior contains fittings dating from around 1910, including the bar counter and back, which forms one wall of a corridor surrounding the public bar. The lower part of this wall is tiled with blue and yellow tiles from the Swan Pottery, Tunstall. A wooden superstructure features sash windows and richly-decorated woodwork with Art Nouveau glazing. Decorative tiling extends along the other corridor wall and up the stairs. A small lobby leads to the Adelphi Street entrance, beyond which is a 'News Room’ with fixed seating and bell pushes. A large lounge, formerly subdivided, and a large function room with elaborate cornices on the first floor are also present.

The Stork Hotel represents a largely unaltered and richly-detailed example of a late 19th century public house remodelled in the Edwardian period, retaining a largely undisturbed plan and many original fittings and ornate decorative elements from the period of remodelling.