The Peasant (Formerly the George and Dragon) Public House and 238

Details

635-1/0/10184 ST JOHN STREET 05-FEB-07 240 The Peasant (formerly The George a nd Dragon) public house and 238

II Public House (No. 240) and former dining rooms (No. 238), the latter now offices. Rebuilt c1889-90 to the design of H J Newton, on the site of an earlier pub with some late-C20 modification.

MATERIALS: Red rubbed brick with moulded brick and terracotta decoration; painted stone dressings; timber pub front with cast-iron decoration; granite plinth; slate roof.

PLAN: Building occupies splayed corner site. 3 storeys high plus basement and attic. 2 bays to north, 1 bay to corner, 3 bays to south. Ground-floor pub interior now open-plan. First floor has large function room, now a restaurant.

EXTERIOR: Both the pub and former dining rooms are treated as single composition. West elevation to St John Street of 3 bays with entrance to office in south bay and central pub entrance; further entrances to NW corner and east bay of north elevation. Pilastered pub front has pedimented entrances with richly ornamented tympana and spandrels and cast-iron decoration to window heads. Upper lights to windows and entrance fanlights have patterned glazing with bevelled glass. Above ground floor, bays divided by pilasters; paired windows with string-course above and decorative terracotta panels of floral ornament. Window arches of gauged bricks with rounded lower edges forming scalloped effect; decorative terracotta keystones. Moulded stone cornice between first and second floors. Moulded stone cornice and balustraded parapet; central semi-circular pediment to west elevation and matching pediment to east bay of north elevation. Pediments have dormers with round-headed windows and stone relief decoration with roundel bearing figure of St George. Corner bay surmounted by dormer set in aedicule with clock and weathervane. Timber sash windows; those to first floor with additional top-hung pivoting upper lights. Slated mansard roof; decorative iron cresting to No. 238. Moulded brick chimney stacks.

INTERIOR: Ground floor pub retains central curved bar, altered at west end. Bar back with glazed patterned fanlights. Decorative mosaic floor throughout, with original pub name 'THE GEORGE AND DRAGON' in former lobby area to NE entrance. Coloured tiled panel to left of this entrance depicts St George slaying the dragon, restored after WWII bomb damage; relief-pattern tiled dado below, which may continue beneath modern timber dado to rear, the mosaic tile floor also incorporates a St George slaying the dragon scene. Fibrous plaster ceiling of intersecting circles to east part of bar. Stair on rear (south) wall with turned balusters. First-floor restaurant has decorative plaster cornice and window architraves decorated with paterae. Second floor not inspected. Interior of No. 238 not inspected but is known to be much altered at ground floor.

HISTORY: Originally called The George and Dragon, the pub was rebuilt and enlarged c1889-90 on the site of an earlier pub of the same name, which had once been called The Green Dragon. The 1893 the Post Office directory lists No. 238 as dining rooms run by Charles Cousins and No. 240 as The George and Dragon, run by Charles Taylor. Although No. 238 was designed as a unified composition with No. 240 (see below), it appears always to have been in separate ownership.

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE: A handsome, well-detailed example of a late C19 public house with high-quality brickwork, a good pub front and some original internal pub fittings and decoration of note. No. 238, although altered internally, is an integral part of the design and is included principally on the grounds of external architectural interest.

SOURCES: B Cherry and N Pevsner, The Buildings of England, London 4: North, p 630; Islington Local History Centre

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

495098

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Cherry, B, Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: London 4, North, (1998 revised 2001), 630

End of official list entry

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