The Black Friar pub, London EC4 - Art Nouveau interior - Vaulted mosaic ceiling

            The Black Friar at 174 Queen Victoria Street, EC4 is a narrow 'flat-iron' wedge shaped pub, built in 1875 near the site of a thirteenth century Dominican Priory.  A masterpiece of Art-Nouveau styling and the only pub of it's type in London, it was saved from the 1960s bulldozers only by an outcry led by Sir John Betjeman, who later became the Poet Laureate.

The outside was decorated by Royal Academy sculpror Henry Poole (1873-1928) in 1903 and the pub's name is proudly displayed in mosaic tiles.  Though unusual and pleasing, the exterior does not prepare you for the extraordinary interior.  The ground floor interior was remodelled in 1905 by H. Fuller Clark, using multi-coloured marble, mosaics, bronze reliefs of jolly-looking monks, and decorative touches such as the elaborate fire-basket with goblin ends.  Above the fireplace, a large bas-relief bronze depicts frolicking friars singing carols and playing instruments. Another called 'Saturday Afternoon' shows them gathering grapes and harvesting apples.  More monks are collecting fish and eels for their meatless days, while one is just about to boil an egg!

Three low arches lead into a smaller bar, added after the First World War. Below a beautiful arched mosaic ceiling, are mottos of wisdom, such as, 'finery is foolery' and 'don't advertise, tell a gossip' together with .'haste is slow' and 'industry is all'.
Even the light fittings are carved wooden monks carrying yokes on their shoulders, from which the lights hang.

The Black Friar's interior is literally a work of art. It was begun in 1904, with sculptors Nathaniel Hitch, Frederick T. Callcott and Henry Poole contributing to its glory.

Taken on: May 30, 2009

Tags:

Black

Friar

Blackfriars

Blackfriar pub

Blackfriars pub

Art-Nouveau

Art

Nouveau

Arts

Crafts

Queen

Victoria

Street

EC4 London

London

pub

pub saloon

saloon

bar

stained

glass

stain

John

Betjeman

Henry

Poole

Fuller

Clark

Nathaniel

Hitch

Frederick

Callcott

Callcott Poole Hitch 1904 1905

mosaic

mosaic ceiling

ceiling

vault

vaulted ceiling « less

Sets appears in: • Pubs • London more » • Art Deco and Art Nouveau « less

Groups appears in: • Buildings/Architecture • London Photographers more » • Interior Design • Beautiful Ceilings • London by Londoners • Architectural Interiors • Nouveau-Deco • Views: 400 • BEAUTIFUL DETAIL (In the Work of the Skilled-Artisan) • The Beauty of London • Pubs • Art Nouveau Art • Historical Buildings and Landmarks (No Limits) • Arts and Crafts design • London Art Nouveau • Arches in Architecture • Art Nouveau architecture in the U.K. « less

Camera: Pentax Optio L50, 6.3mm, ISO 800 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Pentax Optio L50
Focal Length:	6.3mm
ISO:	800
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Optio L50 Ver 1.00
Show full info

Stats: 6,725 views / 2 comments

go back

close tools panel

Badge creator

Use Flickriver Badge Creator to create a badge linking to your photos, your group or any other Flickriver view.

You can place your badge on your Flickr profile, Blog or Website.

Add to your iGoogle or Netvibes page

Flickriver widget for iGoogle or Netvibes can display almost any Flickriver view - most interesting today, by user, by group, by tag etc. Once added to your personalized homepage, just edit widget settings to select your desired view.

Clickr on one of the buttons below to install:

Embed on your Web site

To embed this view, Copy and Paste the following HTML code:

Black background (preview):

White background (preview):

Firefox and Chrome addons

Adds a 'Flickriver' button to your browser. While viewing any Flickr photos page, click on this button to open the same view on Flickriver.

Install in Firefox
Install in Chrome

Search plugin

Add 'Search on Flickriver' to your browser's search box. Works with Firefox and Internet Explorer. Install search plugin

"View on Flickriver" Greasemonkey script

A Greasemonkey script that adds Flickriver links to various Flickr photo pages - user photos, favorites, pools etc, allowing to quickly open the corresponding Flickriver view.

Also, allows quickly viewing any Flickr photo on black background in large size.

Install "View on Flickriver" script

Bookmarklet

While viewing any Flickr photos page, click on the bookmarklet to open the same view on Flickriver.

To install: drag and drop the following link to your Bookmarks toolbar.
IE users - add the link to your Favorites under the Links folder