Rules Restaurant
Rules Restaurant, 35, Maiden Lane, WC2
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1238981
- Date first listed:
- 15-Jan-1973
- List Entry Name:
- Rules Restaurant
- Statutory Address:
- Rules Restaurant, 35, Maiden Lane, WC2
Location
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- Reference:
- IOE01/05157/12
- Rights:
- © M. Louise Taylor. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1238981
- Date first listed:
- 15-Jan-1973
- List Entry Name:
- Rules Restaurant
- Statutory Address 1:
- Rules Restaurant, 35, Maiden Lane, WC2
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- Rules Restaurant, 35, Maiden Lane, WC2
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Greater London Authority
- District:
- City of Westminster (London Borough)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- TQ 30338 80768
Details
This list entry was subject to a Minor Enhancement on 19 March 2025 to amend the description and reformat the text to current standards.
TQ 3080 NW
72/85
CITY OF WESTMINSTER
MAIDEN LANE, WC2
No.35, Rules Restaurant
15.1.73
II
Restaurant premises. 1873 by Alfred Cross for Benjamin Rule, fishmonger and oyster bar proprietor. Yellow brick with painted stone. on stucco dressings, concealed roof. Simplified Italianate detailing.
Four storeys. Three windows wide. Ground floor stuccoed with shop front incorporating doorway to right, framed by narrow pilasters with foliate caps and entablature-fascia with ribbed console bracket stops. Upper floors have recessed casements, those of first and second floors leaded as if quarries, under gauged segmental arches. The second and third floor windows have prominent bracketed sills linked by band course. Prominent bracketed cornice finishes off front.
Interior retains much of its original decoration and fittings with domical decorated roof light to ground floor restaurant and decorative oak panelling to upper floor dining rooms, ornate staircase etc. Many noteworthy patrons in its history in the political, literary and theatrical spheres quite apart from the clandestine amorous encounters of Edward VII, when Prince of Wales, with Lillie Langtry.
There is a wall-mounted Grosvenor gas lantern to the Maiden Lane elevation with decorative scrollwork to the bracket. This appears to have been added between 1968 and 2008 based on available photographs.
Listing NGR: TQ3033880768
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 416681
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Survey of London in The Parish of St Paul Covent Garden: Volume 36, Vol. 36, (1970)
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 05-Jun-2026 at 21:01:10.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.