R is for Roses

Without more ado, let’s admire the roses, which are a popular motif in Art Deco architecture.

If you’re new to Loughborough, you might be familiar with the Loughborough Arms pub on Baxter Gate, with its seemingly old and appropriate name. You might also have noticed the stained-glass windows to the ground floor, and admired the depiction of roses and crowns. You might also have noticed that the building is dated 1924, so built during the period when Art Deco was popular.

This building replaced an earlier one, which was also a pub, but which was then called the Rose and Crown. There are some features on the new building which chime with the Art Deco style, for example, the beaten metal between the first and second floor, the cream-coloured faience tiles, and even the stained glass. However, the roof is tiled in Swithland slate, which isn’t common in buildings of this age, and the building almost has an Art Nouveau feel to it.

And what of the rose motifs? Well, on this particular building they are not related to the style of architecture, but more to the pub’s original name. The name Rose and Crown is reasonably common for a pub, and relates to the coming together of the House of York and the House of Lancaster, following the Wars of the Roses, when Henry Tudor married Elizabeth of York, thus uniting the families. By 1927, the pub was being run by Mrs Jones, and the name was changed to the Loughborough Hotel, but I’m not sure when it reverted to the Rose and Crown (which it had done by 1978).

 

And now to roses that really are motifs associated with some of Loughborough’s Art Deco buildings. Firstly, the empty shop next to the Loughborough Arms, which was most recently Baxters Tea Rooms, previously a café called Delice, and prior to that a Caribbean restaurant, an IT education space, and a gentleman’s outfitters. I’ve spotted twelve English roses adorning the front of this building – on the string course below the first-floor windows, above the first-floor windows, and just below the second-floor windows.

 

The beautiful former offices of the Echo Press building on Swan Street also showcases roses. These are on the first-floor string course, and in all I counted 16 of these! They are slightly different from those on the former café on Baxter Gate.

 

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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