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Listing: 1922. By J. A. Swann. Early Tudor style. A good example of
this style of building, with well carved details.
Literature: Basil Oliver, The Renaissance of the English Public
House, Faber and Faber, 1947, pp. 115 &146
Comment: Somebody bothered about this building. They got an architect
and craftsmen who knew what they were doing. The facade is a remarkably accurate
rendering of Tudor stone buildings - it is almost repro rather than retro. One
might wonder what this style is doing in this town but it does seem to fit in
and to add interest.
Oliver says: "This 'period house' is extraordinarily well done by the
architect Mr. James A. Swan of Birmingham. The Giffard family has, for
generations, had local associations. The four carved heraldic shields in
the central panels between the handsome twenty-light windows of the bar and
assembly room above it, bear the arms of Staffordshire and Wolverhampton, with a
Tudor rose and portcullis is similar stone panels between the first and second
floor windows. This building is cleverly planned for a difficult site".
The site once contained a town house of the Giffard family.
Swann was also responsible for the restoration of the Greyhound and Punchbowl
Inn, Bilston (q.v.). He seems to have specialised in Tudor, whether stone
built or timber framed.
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