Description

CHESTER CITY (EM)

SJ46NW LIVERPOOL ROAD
1932-1/2/187 (West side)
11/02/92 No.5
George and Dragon Public House and
signpost

II

Public house. 1929-31. For the Birkenhead Brewery Co.
Sandstone-dressed brown brick, timber frame with plaster
panels; red tile roof. Of "Road House" type, designed in the
manner of an Elizabethan manor-house, on prominent site
between Liverpool Road and Parkgate Road, facing north end of
Upper Northgate Street.
EXTERIOR: symmetrical front to Upper Northgate Street has
apron steps to timber-framed gabled porch on stone dressed
brick plinth with framed and boarded Tudor-arched oak double
doors and small leaded lights. Canted 8-light mullioned and
transomed stone window, leaded glazing, to each side.
Timber-framed recessed balcony above porch; 5-light leaded
oriel in close-studded bay to each side of balcony; south
pitch of roof sweeps down to balcony; the bay to each side has
third storey jettied on consoles with 3-light casement, close
studding and braced panels, beneath jettied front gable.
Ornate bargeboards; drop finials.
The east face to Liverpool Street has stone-dressed brick
ground floor with, south to north, two 3-light mullioned and
transomed leaded casements; brick-nogged timber-framed
entrance bay with framed and boarded oak double doors; damaged
leaded overlight; coved jetty to projecting bay above; three
3-light mullioned and transomed leaded casements; double doors
in stone case with panel inscribed George and Dragon; leaded
slit window. First floor has stone jetty with carved corbels;
close studding; ornately framed jettied gables to each
entrance bay.
North face to car park has brick ground floor with
stone-capped plinth; 2 framed and boarded doors; a 2-light
leaded casement and 4 small leaded windows; a long, narrow
one-storey west wing with 3 small windows between 2
framed-and-boarded doors; eaves rafters exposed. The first
floor of the main block has stone jetty, close studding, a
tall 3-light landing window, a small window and two 2-light
casements, all leaded. A pair of gables, each with a 4-light
leaded oriel on a console with a saltire panel to each side,
jetty and herringbone struts above.
The west face to Parkgate Road has close-studded end bay to

1-storey wing, stone steps with wrought-iron rails to cellar,
expressed as an undercroft, timber-framed open gallery between
the 1-storey north wing and a short 1-storey south wing, on a
bearer beam carried by four S-braced posts. The gallery allows
access between lounge, south, and bars, north. Stone-dressed
brick gabled bay behind gallery; wrought-iron rail to gallery,
with shaped oak posts; close-studded upper storey to each side
of gabled bay. Mullioned and transomed and mullioned leaded
windows. Windows have armorial panels; a rainwater head on
north end and three on west face dated 1931. The east and west
sides have parallel roofs, each with 2 shaped stone chimneys,
symmetrically placed.
INTERIOR could not be inspected fully; modern furnishings; but
stone fireplaces, main structure and strapwork ceilings
probably intact.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: free-standing chamfered timber post and
wrought-iron frame for inn sign; the sign formerly on traffic
island, south, is removed.
Externally an excellent example of a Road House of the late
1920s/early 1930s, well-composed, consistently detailed and
intact. The architect is not yet identified.

Listing NGR: SJ4032767012

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• George and Dragon Public House and signpost official website
• Wikidata Q26656577

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990