Lord High Admiral Public House

The Lord High Admiral Public House, built between 1964 and 1967 and with interior fittings completed in 1968-9, is attached to Charlwood House. The design was the winner of a competition in 1961 by John Darbourne, and was executed by Darbourne and Darke, with Geoffrey Darke as partner in charge, alongside W D Shepherd, Chief Architect to Ind Coope Ltd. The structure is loadbearing brickwork with concrete floors, featuring hand-made red and purple multi-coloured facings both externally and internally. Access is via a private patio. Large timber windows and a timber door are located to the right of the entrance. Above the fascia is a planting box integrated into the front elevation of the first-floor publican's flat. The pub is arranged over three half-levels, with steps leading down from the raised ground floor entrance to the main bar on a half-landing, and further steps at the rear to a basement games room, originally intended as a dining area. The bar retains its original timber counter and back bar, and a timber ceiling, with some areas of cork. The exposed brickwork, some of which is painted, combined with timber boarding, is characteristic of late 1960s architect-designed public houses, deliberately blending modern planning with traditional materials. When built, the building was considered an exceptional and demonstrably remarkable survival, and has remained largely unaltered. It is a key component of Darbourne and Darke’s award-winning Lillington Gardens scheme, and replaced an earlier public house of the same name. It was noted for its 'consistency of approach' in the Architects' Journal in 1970.