George Hotel

LICHFIELD

SK1109SE BIRD STREET 1094-1/8/24 (North East side) 05/02/52 Nos.12 AND 14 George Hotel

GV II*

Hotel. Late C18 with later additions. Brick with stucco facade; graduated slate roof. Courtyard plan. Georgian style. 2-storey, symmetrical 5-bay, centre with 3-storey, 3-window, flanking ranges; ground floor has large canted angle to left end. Centre has rusticated ground floor and Ionic pilasters, frieze and cornice to 1st floor; flanking ranges have platt band over ground floor and top cornice. Central elliptical-headed carriage entrance with C19 or C20 infill with glazed doors, sidelights and cornice. Windows have sills and 12-pane sashes, those to ground floor of centre in recesses with rusticated wedge lintels, those above are large, with panels over; 2nd floor has windows with 6-pane sashes; ground floor windows to left of entrance have C20 casements. 3-storey, 2-window, range to right has stucco ground floor and modillioned brick cornice; windows to ground and 1st floor have 12-pane sashes, those to 1st and 2nd floor have rubbed brick flat arches, those to 2nd floor have 6-pane sashes. Rear wings, one with hipped slate roof, one extended in late C19. INTERIOR: large ballroom to 1st floor, entablature with scrolled foliage to panelled frieze, segmental vault has guilloche bands and ceiling roses, distyle-in-antis colonnade to rear recess with columns copied from the Tower of the Winds; entrance has doorcase with panelled pilasters and entablature with enriched frieze, paired 3-panel doors; simple marble fireplaces with C19 overmirrors. Open well staircase wtih stick balusters and 2 columns to landing. A good example of a coaching inn serving the London to Chester road, one of the 2 most important in Lichfield; described by Pevsner as: 'one of the best late C18 hotel buildings in the land', the incorporation of the ballroom being a rare feature. George Farquhar, 1677-1707, stayed at the predecessor of the present building in 1705, later immortalising it in 'The Beaux Stratagem'.

Listing NGR: SK1159009479