Description

TQ 2680 NW
1900/66/10091

STRATHEARN PLACE, W2
No.10A, Victoria Public House

10/4/75

GV
II
Public House, c.1840-50, the interior much remodelled c.1897-8, with embellishment 1955-8 particularly to upper rooms perhaps by Bryan and Nonnan Westwood. Stuccoed brick, slate roofs.

Rounded frontage on acutely angled corner site, four storeys high plus basement, with two further bays to Strathearn Place and one to Sussex Place. The exterior with high parapet and moulded bands. The upper floors have twelve-light glazing bar sashes in moulded architrave surrounds, save for that in the first-floor bow, which is tripartite with brackets and an ironwork balcony. Similar style windows to ground-floor bars. Cast-iron spearhead railings.

Interiors. The long, narrow bar was originally divided into a corner snug at its Sussex Place end, of which partition a fragment remains. The other areas formed two semi-defined lounges, all set around a long counter with original pilastered front, frieze (painted with scenes of Queen Victoria's life, including her Diamond Jubilee) supported on columns. Bar back with columns and cornice, continued on former public side as walling with elaborate decorative glass. Other walls with dado panelling, inset above which are prints and tiles. Saloon on Stratheam Place side with corner cupboards either side of elaborate fireplace and overrmantle mirror with foliate decoration. Corner area adapted as Saloon 1955, when neo-Adamesque fireplace installed.

On the first floor, Theatre Bar installed c.1958 from Shaw, Runtz and Ford's Gaiety Theatre (1902-3, demolished). Balcony fronts supported on Corinthian columns line the walls. Cornr counter set with boards from the shows, one signed Westwood Brothers suggesting that Bryan and Nonnan Westwood (working nearby at the time) may have been the architects for the installation. Bar back depicts the Gaiety .Two small box fronts in corners. Dining room adapted after 1955 in neo-Queen Anne style, with panelling, fireplace and corner cupboards decorated with swags. These fittings may well also come from the Gaiety.

The Victoria, Stratheam Place is of interest as a remarkably complete public house interior of the 1890s, to which the identified embellishments from the much lamented Gaiety Theatre add interest, both in their own right and as a rare surviving indication of the interest in Victoriana, particularly as expressed in pub interiors, that was beginning to emerge in the late 1950s.

Listing NGR: TQ2699880981

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• The Victoria at Wikipedia
• The Victoria official website
• Wikidata Q17030403

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
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  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
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  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)