The Salisbury Public House

The Salisbury Public House is a large pub-hotel dating from 1898-9, designed by John Cathles Rill. It occupies a prominent corner location, curving onto St Ann's Road. The building is constructed in a French Renaissance style, characterized by shaped gables, an ogee-domed cupola, and large, pedimented dormers. It rises to three storeys and an attic, with a nine-window front and a chimney bay to the far left. The exterior is primarily red brick with stone bands and dressings, topped with a slated mansard roof. A central tower rises higher, adorned with a wrought-iron crown. The ground floor is built of Portland stone with a grey granite plinth. Polished black granite Corinthian pilasters support the fascia, and two large, polished granite columns support half-octagonal turrets. Moulded architraves frame the semi-circular arched openings, with engraved glass in the ground-floor windows. Ornate wrought-iron screens are positioned above the imposts over the entrances, leading into elaborately tiled lobbies with mosaic floors.

The top floor contains numerous small bedrooms, each featuring distinctive fire surrounds and overmantels of varied patterns. A kitchen is present with shelves and a large niche for a range. The second floor remains uninspected. The first floor incorporates a large room at the front, formerly used as a restaurant and concert hall, with an elaborate, compartmented ceiling featuring ornate fibrous plasterwork undertaken by the Mural Decoration Company. Engraved glass, designed by Cakebread & Robey, is incorporated into doors dividing the residential section of the building. Two staircases are present, one wooden and the other with cast-iron balusters. The ground-floor bar area features a compartmented ceiling with cast-iron columns and is open plan. A curved bar includes a stone trough at its base. A large billiard room is lit by a top-lit roof with painted creeping vine motifs. Numerous elaborate engraved mirrors and fire surrounds are also present. A saloon is separated by an arched screen containing glass engraved with Art Nouveau motifs. The interior is described as magnificently elaborate and complete.

The Salisbury Hotel was built by John Cathles Hill as part of a pair of pub-hotels in Hornsey. Hill was a developer with his own workshops, producing many of the fixtures and fittings for the pubs. The glasswork is notable for the incorporation of Art Nouveau motifs, a brief trend at the turn of the century.