Reasons for Designation
The Three Pigeons Public House in Halifax is recommended for designation at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* It retains its internal room layout unaltered, including the distinctive northern feature of a central drinking lobby
* It has good survival of original features including fireplaces, fixed seating, oak veneered walls, bar front and back fittings, room signage and cornices, much of which is distinctively art deco in style
* The exterior, while largely traditional in style, is little altered apart from the front window glazing, and has points of interest in its stepped parapet and pub sign sculpture
* Recent refurbishment has revealed and enhanced original features while maintaining a distiction between old and new.
Details
679/0/10336 SUN FOLD
24-MAR-10 1
The Three Pigeons Public House
II
Public House, 1932, by Jackson and Fox of Halifax.
MATERIALS: sandstone 'bricks' with stone slate roofs, stone dressings.
PLAN: The building is two storey and has a front range of two bays, with rear ranges to the left and right, that on the right having its gable to the side. A lower section to rear is flat roofed. The ground falls steeply to the rear where the basement becomes a full floor above ground. There are stone chimney stacks at the ridge end of each gable and another at the rear. Internally the central entrance passage leads to a central octagonal lobby with a bar counter to the rear left, and public rooms off to each corner. A passageway to the back leads to gents and ladies toilets on the left and a further room to the rear right. There is a small kitchen to the rear left, cellars below and living quarters above.
EXTERIOR: The main elevation has a central entrance door with shaped stone dressings and a plain glass overlight. On either side is a single storey semi-circular three-light bay window with shaped stone dressings and timber framed replacement windows. At first floor above the door is a recessed canted arched panel containing the modern pub sign, surrounded by decoratively carved stone dressings and containing at the top a sculpture in white stone of three pigeons. A three-light stone mullioned window with replacement timber frames and plain stone dressings is to either side. A low curved and stepped parapet tops the facade. The stone slate roof has raised stone gables and a stone chimney stack at each end. The right return (south side) has a double pile gable end with three first floor windows and three ground floor windows all with replacement timber frames. Below there are two doors and several windows to the cellars with original pivoting windows. There are further ground floor and basement floor windows to the flat roofed original rear extension. The left return (north side) has a single gable with single ground and first floor windows, backed by a range to the rear with a series of smaller first, ground and basement floor windows. The flat roofed section carries a balcony across the rear of the building, with a single chimney stack rising from the kitchen below.
INTERIOR: The outer door leads into a short passage and an original glazed panelled inner door with overlight and thence to the octagonal drinking lobby. The floor is terrazzo with a geometric design in buff and green and the terrazzo flooring continues into the passageway to the rear leading to the toilets, back room and kitchen. There is original oak veneer cladding to the corridor and lobby walls, and the ceiling of the lobby has a painting of pigeons on a roof executed in the 1980s. The front rooms to the right and left have original fixed benches with bell push rails and wooden fire surrounds with replaced tiles and modern linoleum floors. The middle room to the right has the same with original tiling to the fireplace incorporating animal designs, and has (later) openings in the walls to the front room and corridor. The servery to the left has an original counter front with oak veneer fluted pilasters and flush panels. The back fittings are also in oak with mirrored and glass panels, including a glass panel advertising Webster's beers. The doors to the front left and middle right rooms have oak veneer doors with metal framed sub-rectangular glazed panels; that to the front right has BAR LOUNGE in metal ribbon lettering across the glazing. Similar doors lead to the Ladies and Gents toilets which are on the left of the corridor to the rear. The rear right room has modern fittings and was originally a private living room. The kitchen has modern fittings. The cellars are extensive and some of the windows have their original metal opening mechanisms. On the first floor a large front room has an original timber fire surround and a smaller room to the front has a small original metal fireplace.
HISTORY
The Three Pigeons was built by Samuel Webster & Sons of Halifax, brewers, as a replacement for a previous pub on the site. Plans produced in 1929 show the layout of the ground floor as very similar to today in the main part of the pub, though a rear room was originally part of the private quarters, and there have been some adjustments to the cloakroom area. The pub was opened in 1932 and the architects were Jackson & Fox, a Halifax firm that also designed the listed Royal Oak in central Halifax and went on to design all of Webster's interwar pubs.
A long standing tenancy was followed by a succession of tenants and the freehold was sold in the 1980s. A further sale in 2005 to Izakaya Pub Company led to a refurbishment of surviving original features and sympathetic restoration of the public areas.
SOURCES
English Heritage, Pubs Understanding Listing, 1994
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION
The Three Pigeons Public House in Halifax is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* It retains its internal room layout unaltered, including the distinctive northern feature of a central drinking lobby
* It has good survival of original features including fireplaces, fixed seating, oak veneered walls, bar front and back fittings, room signage and cornices, much of which is distinctively art deco in style
* The exterior, while largely traditional in style, is little altered apart from the front window glazing, and has points of interest in its stepped parapet and pub sign sculpture
* Recent refurbishment has revealed and enhanced original features while maintaining a distiction between old and new.
