Description

CAMDEN

TQ2686SW NORTH END WAY
798-1/16/1220 (West side)
14/05/74 Jack Straw's Castle Public House

II

Public house. 1962-64. By Raymond Erith, built by GE Wallis
and Sons; on the site of a previous public house of the same
name. Timber-framed construction on brick plinth, clad with
painted weatherboarding. Tiled double hipped roofs.
STYLE: in the style of an C18 coaching inn.
PLAN: open sided courtyard plan with single storey staff
accommodation block and garages forming south wing.
EXTERIOR: long principal elevation of 3 storeys and cellars.
Upper floors with continuous ranges of 20 sashes each, 2nd
floor having pointed Gothick lights. Ground floor has vehicle
entrance to courtyard to left, sashes and 4 canted bay
windows; left hand pair flanks entrance with overlight and
sash to right, right hand pair flanks entrance with overlight
and sidelights. Single windows to right hand bay indicate
interior stair. Projecting bracketed cornice and wooden
crenellated parapet.
North return with single storey entrance projection and 4
storey tower (contains lift); similar tower at south-west
corner of courtyard containing water tanks. Attached to west
facade of north wing and facing into courtyard, a single
storey projection having an ogee arch with finials to panelled
niche with fitted bench seat. Rear with similar fenestration
to principal elevation on upper floors but ground floor having
pantiled gallery and 2nd floor with continuous cast-iron
balcony with tented hood.
INTERIOR: with exposed Douglas fir stanchions and beams bolted
at angles with iron plates. Ground floor with continuous
tongue and groove pine-panelled bar having fireplaces at
either end and to the side bar, these with Erith's initials in
the grate. Dog-leg stair with panelled dado, square newels,
closed string and fretwork balusters leads to function room,
restaurant, and tower bar, all with panelling, the
second-floor restaurant with high fixed leather-upholstered
benches and tables, the adjoining tower bar with bar counter
and fixed pine seating - all part of Erith's concept.
HISTORICAL NOTE: the present building replaced an early C18
public house (not in the same style) altered in the early C19
and bombed in the Second World War; the name commemorates Jack
Straw, Wat Tyler's second-in-command during the Peasants'
Revolt of 1381, who is said to have had a camp here.

(Archer L: Raymond Erith, Architect: Burford, Oxon: -1985: 88,
167; The Builder: 29 May 1964: London: 1119-23).

Listing NGR: TQ2624486447

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Jack Straw's Castle at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q18358503

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

• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)