Listed Building: GEORGE AND DRAGON PUBLIC HOUSE AND SIGNPOST (1375869)

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