Eagle Vaults Public House

Eagle Vaults Public House

This building on Friar Street in Worcester is a house that was converted into a public house, probably built in the 1740s for Charles Collins, though it may have earlier origins. It was substantially altered and extended, most notably with the addition of a ground-floor pub frontage around 1890 to 1900.

The building is constructed of reddish-brown brick in Flemish bond with red brick dressings. The ground floor features a glazed tile frontage, while the roof is of plain tile in a hipped form with red brick stacks that have an oversailing course. Timber-framed roof dormers with stucco infill crown the structure. The plan is of single depth.

The building rises to two storeys with attics and is seven windows wide at first-floor level. The first floor has renewed casement windows set under cambered arches formed of alternately tall and short bricks. A 3-course eaves band and modillion cornice crown the first floor. The attic roof dormers have hipped roofs and casement windows.

The ground floor is rendered in a Mannerist style. A tall plinth is surmounted by banded pilasters on either side of the entrances and windows. Voussoirs surround the windows, and a continuous frieze displays raised lettering reading "WINES MITCHELLS & BUTLERS SPIRITS GOLD MEDAL ALES AND STOUTS". A cornice is surmounted by swan neck pediments with swags and ball finials over all entrances except that to the angle. There are three entrances: one at the centre, one to the left, and one to the right at a canted angle. All are panelled and part-glazed doors with etched glass. The timber doorcases feature billet friezes and cambered overlights in hollow-moulded surrounds. The entrance to the left is a 6-panel double door, while the entrance to the right at the canted angle sits beneath a scrolled hood. Four round-arched windows feature lower rectangular panels of etched glass with dentil moulding to the architrave and three stepped, rounded upper lights.

The right return has a similar end entrance and a further window of the same type. The frieze continues around the right return with raised lettering reading "EAGLE VAULTS SPIRITS", and is crowned by a cornice and similar swan neck pediment over the entrance.

The interior retains original pub features including glazed tiles with neo-classical motifs at the central entrance. The ground floor formerly comprised two rooms with a central hall but is now one continuous space. The bar to the right retains neo-classical details and cornices.

Documentary evidence indicates that, despite its late 17th-century stylistic appearance, the house was rebuilt in the 1740s on the site of an earlier property. In 1764, John Young purchased the property and converted it into a pub, which became known as Young's Mug House by 1779. From 1814 to 1817 it was known as the Volunteer, followed by the Plummer's Arms. It has been known as the Friar Street Vaults since 1859, though it closed temporarily around 1982. Before the existing tiled facade was added, there were four entrances on the Friar Street frontage.

The building occupies an important corner site and represents a particularly fine example of a late 19th-century pub facade.