The King Of Prussia Public House

The King of Prussia Public House is a large public house, possibly originally a merchant’s house or a market building, dating from the early 17th century, but largely rebuilt or remodelled in the mid-19th century. It incorporates numbers 2 Market Street and 6 Webb Street.

The front of the building is constructed from granite Doric columns to the ground floor of the front and short returns, with rubble and granite dressings on the right-hand return, painted brick on the beginning of the right-hand return, and stucco or render elsewhere. The roof is covered in dry Delabole slate and asbestos slate, with a hipped design over the front range and a central dormer window with a round-arched light containing glazing bars, rising into a small gable. Brick end stacks are visible. The building has a large plan, running deeper to the right.

The front elevation consists of three storeys plus an attic over an open basement, with two storeys to the rear wing on the left and three storeys to the other rear wing. The front is symmetrical, featuring three windows, panelled and rusticated end pilasters, and sill bands to the upper floors. Late 19th-century horned sash windows are present, with six-pane sashes on the first and second floors, some with segmental heads. The ground floor includes a central doorway, accessed by a straight flight of granite steps, with an overlight and a pair of panelled doors. Flanking this are pilastered canted bay windows with moulded cornices and hipped slate roofs. The basement features 17th-century granite Doric columns under the windows and midway along the returns.

The right-hand return has a three-window range with late 19th-century sash windows to the upper floors, including a tall stair sash to the second floor, left-hand side, with coloured margin panes. The ground floor is notable for three early features: two moulded granite mullioned windows and a pointed-arched moulded granite doorway, the left-hand window featuring cinquefoil-headed lights. The left-hand return, which incorporates number 2 Market Street, is characterized by chamfered stucco rustication and moulded round-arched keyed openings on moulded impost strings, with casement windows and a panelled door.

The first floor interior contains no features of particular interest.