Queens Arms Public House

The Queens Arms Public House, located on the corner of Newhall Street and Charlotte Street in Birmingham, dates from approximately 1870 and was remodelled in 1901, with further alterations in the late 20th century. The 1901 remodelling was undertaken by the architect Joseph D. Ward for Mitchell and Butlers, Brewers. The building is constructed of red brick with painted stone dressings, moulded brick, faience, and coloured tile decoration. Roof coverings include composition slate and Welsh slate, with tall brick chimney stacks featuring corbelled caps.

The Newhall Street frontage is five bays wide and two storeys high, with a shallow chamfered plinth. A vehicle entrance with iron gates is located on the left-hand end, providing access to a rear yard. The ground floor features an entrance doorway with a 20th-century six-panel door, and a triple sash window with asymmetrically-divided sashes. To the right is a display frontage with a blocked doorway and two wide windows above stall risers, flanked by reeded and marbled pilasters with volute capitals. First-floor windows are arranged 2:1:1, all with 2-over-2 panes and arched heads featuring advanced keystones and bracketed sills within a moulded brick sill band. Decorative eaves are punctuated by a bracketed eaves band and a moulded fascia.

The right-hand end of the Newhall Street elevation features a canted oriel with a shallow slated roof set within a projecting gablet with curved brackets and decorative barge boards. A splayed doorway to the corner has a pilaster surround and a diminutive segmental pediment above the door head. Above the corner entrance is a curved polychrome tile and faience panel with raised lettering reading “MITCHELL AND BUTLER GOLD MEDAL ALES,” continuing above the curved eaves board with miniature pilasters, ball finials, a segmental pediment, and the lettering “THE QUEENS ARMS.” The Charlotte Street elevation largely features a ground-floor display frontage with two doorways and four windows, framed by pilasters. The upper floor has a blind opening to the left, and a canted oriel below a gablet, mirroring the arrangement on the Newhall Street elevation.

The interior has been modified to create a communal bar area, but retains moulded cornice plasterwork. A wide arched opening connects to a smaller bar on the Charlotte Street side; architects' drawings for the 1901 remodelling are displayed within this space. The Queens Arms is a prominently-sited public house with lavish external detail, reflecting an effort by Birmingham's brewers and licensing magistrates in the late 19th century to improve the image and comfort levels of public houses.