The Argyll Public House

1900/57/32

SOHO ARGYLL STREET W1 No.18, The Argyll Public House

09-JAN-70

II* Public house. 1868, altered c.1895 by Robert Sawyer including refronting of ground floor and interior remodelling, and further minor C20 alteration. Brick, stuccoed to street frontage. Roof concealed behind shallow parapet.

PLAN. Narrow frontage incorporates deep side corridor plan leading to separate bars to right hand side and to rear, the servery on the right-hand side connecting the different areas.

EXTERIOR. Five storeys, three bays, with entrances to left and right flanked by red granite pilasters with larvikite bases and terminations.and with curved timber and glass frontage between. Windows to second, third and fourth floors flanked by flat pilasters and sub-Corinthian columns. Moulded imposts to the fifth floor window pilasters; over the fifth floor windows, tympana with vermiculated detail in the centre. Plain parapet.

INTERIOR. Left side wall to corridor with mahogany panelling, pilasters and mirrors with etched and polished details of urns, cornucopias, swags and foliage. On right, similarly decorated glass in a screen delineating three separate drinking areas. Over the entrance to each is a broken pediment. Between these openings, similarly detailed screens, and a doorway in the screen between the two front bars. Contemporary bar counter with panelled and flat pilasters. Bar back altered in lower parts; one section canted forward with doors and etched and polished glass and with a clock over. Further towards the rear the bar back has a broad section with a segmental pediment and carved frieze. Large rear room with walling incorporating panelling and mirrors. Cased iron columns interrupt the bar counter at two points. Richly decorated Lincrusta ceiling throughout. Staircase to first floor with ornate, scrolled ironwork balustrade. Modestly decorated cast-iron balusters to staircase from first to second floor.

A mid-C19, metropolitan mid-terrace public house, remodelled during the great public house boom at the turn of the century. The little altered plan form with its separate drinking areas and the associated high-quality wood and glass work is a remarkable and rare survival, thought to be the best surviving example of the plan type to retain its c.1900 fittings.

Source: T. Bruning, Historic Pubs of London (London, 1998), 120.

Listing NGR: TQ2905781206