The Salisbury Public House

TQ 3188 GREEN LANES N8 (East side) 800/34/56 Harringay

The Salisbury Public House

II*

Large pub-hotel, 1898-9, by John Cathles Rill. Prominent corner site, curving round into St Ann's Road. French Renaissance style with shaped gables, ogee domed cupolas and large pedimented dormers. 3 storeys and attic, 9 windows and a chimney bay to far left. Red brick with stone bands and dressings. Slated mansard roof has higher central tower with wrought-iron crown. Ground floor of Portland stone with high plinth of grey granite. Polished black granite Corinthian pilasters support fascia. 2 enormous polished granite columns support ha1f-octagonal turrets. Moulded architraves to semi-circular arched openings. Engraved glass to ground floor windows. Entrances have ornate wrought-iron screens above imposts, with elaborately tiled lobbies and mosaic floors. INTERIOR: T op floor: many small bedrooms, each with distinctive fire-surrounds and overmantels of various patterns; kitchen with shelves and large niche for range. Railways: original radiators, black and white tiled floor, panelling, pedimented door surrounds, wrought-iron gas light fittings, tiled former toilet area. Second floor, not inspected. First floor: large room at the front, formerly a restaurant and concert room. Elaborate, compartmented ceiling with ornate fibrous plasterwork, all by the Mural Decoration Company. Engraved glass by Cakebread & Robey, inserted into doors separating off the residential part of the building. Two staircases, one wooden, one with cast-iron balusters. Ground floor, bar area: compartmented ceiling with cast-iron columns, open plan. Curved bar with stone trough at base. Large billiard room with top-lit roof glass painted with creeping vine motif Many elaborate engraved mirrors and fire surrounds. Saloon divided off by arched screen containing glass engraved with Art Nouveau motifs. A magnificently elaborate and complete interior. HISTORICAL NOTE. The Salisbury Hotel was built by Mr John Cathles Hill as one of a pair of pub-hotels in Hornsey. Mr Hill was a successful developer in this part of North London and had his own workshops, where many of the fixtures and fittings for the pubs were made. The glass is notable for the incorporation of Art Nouveau motifs, a short-lived vogue at the turn-of-the-century. SOURCE: 'Victorian Pubs' by Mark Girouard, Yale 1984.