The White Hart public house

Summary

Public house, 1889 by Alfred Edwin Stallard.

The later extension that adjoins the original building at its north east corner is not of special interest and is excluded from the listing.

Reasons for Designation

The White Hart of 1889 by Alfred Edwin Stallard is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: an exuberant example of a late-Victorian corner pub designed by a noted local architect; the exterior combines vernacular elements with polite features associated with the Queen Anne revival;
* Group value: the White Hart has strong group value with the Grade II-listed Havant War Memorial, also designed by A.E. Stallard, and with St Faith’s Church (Grade II*).

History

The present building was erected in 1889 to designs by Alfred Edwin Stallard (1861-1953). It replaced an earlier public house named the Miller’s Arms, demolished on the widening of the road junction. The pub’s name acknowledges an earlier coaching inn of the same name, but on a different site on East Street. (The earlier inn was one of seven Havant inns recorded in 1784, and was demolished in 1888). Stallard was a prolific local architect whose many Havant buildings include the War Memorial (1922, Grade II) and Congregational Church (1891). He was appointed Surveyor to Havant Rural Sanitary District in 1891. The building remains in use as a public house at the time of writing (2014).

Details

Public house, 1889 by Alfred Edwin Stallard, designed after the manner of R. Norman Shaw.

MATERIALS
Construction is of red brick in English bond with terracotta dressings, applied half-timbered gables and tiled roofs.

PLAN
The White Hart is a corner pub of two-and-a-half storeys. The original plan is unclear, but may have comprised two principal spaces, a main tap room entered from the corner entrance, and a saloon or parlour accessed from North Street. The corner entrance is not presently in use, and the central window on East Street has been enlarged into a door, whereas the original entrance on North Street remains. The ground floor interior presently comprises a single space served by a panelled public bar. Access to the upper floors is gained from a double flight staircase to the north.

EXTERIOR
East and North Streets have almost identical fronts of three bays, separated by a canted and recessed corner bay. Wide and narrow bays are alternated, with the former receiving more elaborate architectural treatment. There is a continuous plinth and string courses at sill and first-floor levels. Ground-floor openings have a three-centred arch with gauged voussoirs and a continuous hood-mould. The outer bays have recessed, three-light casement windows with a geometric pattern of glazing bars above the transom. Beneath the windows are decorative terracotta panels in the Jacobethan manner.

The second floor is tile hung with upper courses in a fishscale pattern. The corner bay has a terracotta panel below a moulded brick architrave with swan neck pediment. The outer bays have prominent, canted oriel windows of ‘Ipswich’ type, with margin lights and patterned glazing bars in the heads. The intervening windows are of two transomed lights. Over the oriels, and supported on ornate brackets, are bold gables with plain bargeboards and applied and painted half-timbering. Between the gables are pedimented dormer windows. The roof is covered with red tiles and surmounted by decorative ridge tiles. The end walls have elaborate chimney stacks with corbelled brick courses.

INTERIOR
The ground-floor interior presently comprises a single space served by a panelled public bar with barley-twist columns. Walls are either lined to cornice height in panelling or have a matchboard dado. On the ground floor there are cast-iron fireplaces and grates. A double flight staircase to the north has turned newels and balusters.

* Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that the later extension that adjoins the original building at its north-east corner is not of special architectural or historic interest.

Sources

Books and journals
Steve Jones, , The Inns of Havant, (2012)
John Pile, , Ann Griffiths, , Havant Civic Society Newsletter in A tribute to Havant Architect Alfred Stallard, Vol. Number 2, (April 2013)

End of official list entry

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