Description

This List entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 06/01/2017

SP 08 NE,
7/52

ASTON,
HIGH STREET,
The Bartons Arms Public House

(Formerly listed as: HIGH STREET, Aston B6, No 152 (The Barton Arms Public House))

31.03.76

II*

Built 1900-01 to the designs of James and Lister Lea for Mitchells & Butlers. The
3-storey building stands on a prominent corner site with Potters Lane. Restrained
Jacobean-style elevations with Dutch gables. Ashlar ground floor with broad,
depressed arched 3-light windows with inset flanking colonettes. Cornice over,
returned across bevelled corner, with segmental pediment above doorway to south front
with 2-storey, ashlar canted bay with curved sides, arcaded ground floor lights,
cornices and strapwork parapet. Upper floors otherwise of red brick, the window
bays articulated by pilasters. Pilastered canted stone bay windows to 1st floor with
leaded swept roofs. Thin tripartite second-floor windows with sharply swept
pediments rising from cornice, set against brickwork of the Dutch gables. The
ground-floor windows have very fine frosted glass and leaded stained glass - an
indication of the splendours of the interior.

INTERIOR: The Barton Arms interior is the best
example of the period in Birmingham, retaining a complete suite of Public Bar,
Saloon-Smoke Rooms, Club Room, Committee Room and Billiard Hall on 2 floors, lavishly
decorated in polychrome Minton tile work, cut and silvered mirrored glass, panelled
woodwork and with a very ornate cast iron staircase with lamp standards surmounting
the tiled newel posts, ornate plaster ceilings and Jacobean overmantel fireplaces.
Good pictorial tiled panels in staircase hall, reset large painted glass window with
naturalistic flower surround to medieval scene of host entertaining, and another fine
stained and silvered glass window on half landing of staircase. The mahogany bar
has good snob screen with engraved glass in panels. Bench seating, that in Smoke
Room to east, with canted bay, having engraved silvered glass in panels above the back
rests. The staircase walls are entirely tiled and the balustrade has bold floral
scrolled ironwork. The Club Room, Committee Room and Billiards Hall are on the first
floor, again good glass to doors and plasterwork ceilings. The Billiard Hall has a
central column with ornate capital supporting boss from which radiate panelled
beams.

The intactness of this pub interior and the wealth of tile work make it the
best example of its date in Birmingham.

Listing NGR: SP0721089034

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• The Bartons Arms at Wikipedia
• The Bartons Arms official website
• Wikidata Q3242782

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

• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)