George Public House

George Public House

A public house dating from the 1860s, occupying a prominent corner site on Great Portland Street and Mortimer Street. The building retains largely late-19th-century interior fittings and has undergone minor later alterations, including refurbishment of the upper floors in 2006.

The exterior presents a characterful Italianate composition. The ground floor frontage is articulated by marble three-quarter columns with plinths and gilded Composite capitals, which frame the segmental-headed windows and doors beneath an entablature with modillion cornice. The pub extends across six windows on Mortimer Street, a single splayed bay at the corner, and two windows on Great Portland Street. The doorway terminating the Mortimer Street elevation and the window (formerly a doorway) on the splayed corner feature pediments with gilded consoles and fluted pilasters in Jacobean style. Further gilded plasterwork—in alternating cartouche and shell designs—ornaments the centre of each segmental arch. An additional doorway with fluted pilasters and gilded consoles terminates the Great Portland Street elevation. All windows and doors contain patterned frosted glass inserted into the bottom section of the panes, which may be a later addition, possibly salvaged from another Victorian public house. Modern replacements include the signage, lamps, and brass sill fittings.

The upper storeys are Italianate in style, featuring rectangular sash windows—some paired—with consoles and pediments to the first floor. The second floor has round-headed gauged brick arches with plasterwork heads in the tympana and an acanthus frieze running between the arch imposts. The third floor displays segmental-headed arches with a dogtooth frieze. Moulded stringcourses divide the storeys, and the elevations terminate in a heavy modillion cornice above which sit ornamental metal cresting, a slate mansard roof, attic dormers, and tall brick chimneys.

The ground floor interior appears to have been refurbished in the late 19th century, when the plan may have been opened up. Numerous original features survive from this period: a handsome back bar with classical details including colonettes, consoles, entablature, and dentil cornice; Jacobean-style strapwork panelling; several wall mirrors with gilded cut-glass patterns set into the back bar and panelling; a mahogany bar; encaustic floor tiles; a series of painted tiles depicting hunting scenes and dogs set into the panelling; a dumb waiter clad in strapwork panelling; a vestibule with patterned glass; an embossed ceiling; and decorative cornice. Although some fittings have been relocated—mirrored panels formerly in the sitting area now stand behind the bar—these have been reinstated in a manner consistent with late Victorian public house arrangement. Two rooms on the first floor appear to have served as public rooms, each containing opulent marble fireplaces and cornices. Two original staircases survive: one from ground to first floor with a timber newel post, and one serving the upper floors with a metal newel post and timber turned balustrade. The upper levels have simple panelling below windows and simple 19th-century timber fireplaces.

The George is first recorded as a public house on the Ordnance Survey map of 1875, though the building itself dates from the 1860s. The site was developed in the first decades of the 18th century by the Portland Estate and would originally have contained a typical Georgian terraced house, possibly with a ground floor shop, which was presumably demolished to make way for the pub, possibly upon expiry of a ground lease. The building's original name is not known with certainty. Although documented as The George by 1910 in a Street Directory, the painted tiles depicting riders and hounds suggest it may have originally borne a name associated with hunting. The building has undergone several refurbishments, including major work involving the insertion of decorative glass panels and panelling in the late 19th century, and restoration following a fire affecting the upper floors in 2006.