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Bella Venezia, next to HSBC in the High Street, must remove light fittings attached to ceiling timbers and timber rails, repair plasterwork and paint white door frames and skirting boards.
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council took action but owner Mr G Alia appealed to the Planning Inspectorate, which upheld the council’s decision.
Inspector Clive Cochrane said: “The owner of the restaurant has attempted to create the atmosphere and ambience of a north Italian trattoria, which has no impact at all on the external appearance or character of the building.
“Clearly, there is no historic relationship between the original timber-framed 17th or 18th century cottage/shop and an Italian trattoria.”
He said Mr Alia said the changes are “internal, decorative and nonstructural, they do not affect the character of the building”.
Yet Mr Cochrane said the changes would need listed building consent.
He said: “In my view, the application of decorative timber pieces in the form of a pseudo timber-frame pattern on the walls and ceiling clearly detracts from the genuine 17th century timberframed character of the listed building, even though the original framing is not currently visible.
“It seems to me that the works actually devalue the architectural pedigree of this historic building, particularly as it inappropriately replaces the genuine timber-framed character of the building with an interpretation of another style, of somewhat alien tradition.”
But the restaurant should have six months to make the changes and not the three demanded by the council, he said.
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