Details
SP 18 SW
BIRMINGHAM
SHIRLEY ROAD, Hall Green
(West side)
997/13/10168
The Three Magpies P.H. and
attached walls
GV
II
Includes: Three Magpies Public House and attached walls SCHOOL ROAD Hall Green. Public House, 1935, by Wood, Kendrick & Reynolds for Mitchells and Butlers. Brown brick in Flemish bond, flat roof including former roof garden. Irregular plan and facades which reflect interior function includes Bar, former Gents Smoking Room, former Assembly Room, former Outdoor Department, entrance hall and toilets. One and two storey blocks with tall brick tower. Modernist style in the manner of the Dutch architect Willem Dudok with later alteration to provide display window for Outdoor Department.
Exterior: Front elevation of four bays retains most of its original metal windows of three lights which are full height to ground floor bars, half-height to first floor private rooms, and set between semi-circular brick mullions. Brick parapet in double soldier courses with Modernist dentilation and pre-cast copings. Original double-doors with Jazz-Moderne glazing pattern to former Outdoor Department and beer store lobby with projecting pre-cast stone canopies. Central doors to former `Empty Bottled Goods Store' enclosed by later bay window under pitched roof. Double-doors to entrance hall are articulated by semi-circular brick piers. Original rainwater heads with plain Moderne castings. Rear elevation of four bays retains most of its original metal windows set in soldier-coursed frames. Curved metal double-doors to Assembly Room set in semi-circular brick piers under pre-cast stone canopy. External staircase to Roof Garden to the right. Three wooden sliding-sash windows to garden servery, under pre-cast stone canopy, designed for access to counters. Openings to the single storey entrance hall and toilet block boarded up at time of listing. Original rainwater heads with plain moderne castings. To the bar elevation a large projecting semi-circular bay at ground floor divided by double-doors set in semi-circular brick piers and two wooden replacement windows. To its rear the private entrance to the manager's flat with wooden four-panelled door with porthole window.
Interior: To the ground floor the bar retains original doors, bar carcass, bench seats, moderne plaster mouldings, and cupboards which formed part of back-fittings. Former Gents Smoking Room retains original plaster cornice and mouldings, moderne decorative smoke extractor grilles to ceiling, and metal windows. Assembly Room retains original metal windows and glazed metal doors to semi-circular garden end and give access to outdoor stairs to Roof Garden. Former Outdoor Department retains original doors, counter carcass and radiator housing. Public bars arranged around a central beer store and serving areas. Serving areas retain original horizontal wooden panelling and some of the original shelving system. To the garden servery and Assembly Room servery original cupboards including refrigeration unit. Electrically operated dumb-waiter goods lift from first floor kitchen to beer store and Assembly Room servery with original Bakerlite call-buttons. To the first floor is the manager's flat with its own private access via diagonally boarded staircase, comprising sitting room with original fireplace, four bedrooms, bathroom, staff Room, kitchen, and roof garden servery. To the rear the service room for the roof garden retains original open cupboards, shelves, and metal sink under porthole window, leading off from the tiled kitchen.
Subsiduary features: To the rear is an attached outdoor urinal block serving the bar and, formerly, the garden. Attached curtilage wall to the rear contains bench seats sheltered by a flat roof supported by semi-circular brick piers to the garden together with a garage. Tile ventilators to the rear wall, wide wooden eaves with plain moderne detailing. To the front elevation original low retaining wall to car park with moderne railings and gatepiers surmounted by later lamps.
Included as a rare surviving example of a `reformed' Birmingham public house in the moderne style, by a distinguished local architect. It forms a notable group with the surviving Bowling Green House to the rear.
Original plans held by Birmingham City Council (Building Plan no. 62996, 3rd May 1935).
Listing NGR: SP1128381576
