Description

CHESTER CITY (EM)

SJ4166 CITY ROAD
1932-1/6/49 (East side)
10/01/72 Queen Hotel including former stable
wing and railings
(Formerly Listed as:
CITY ROAD
Queen Hotel)
(Formerly Listed as:
CITY ROAD
Stables to Queen Hotel)

II

Hotel. 1860, damaged by fire 1861, rebuilt to same plan 1862.
Brick and stucco; grey slate roof.
EXTERIOR: basement and 4 storeys; hotel entrance in front of
11 windows to Station Road; one window to rounded corner, 8
windows to main block and 10 in lower south wing, probably
undamaged by fire, to City Road. Quarry pavement to area;
rusticated face to basement has 6-pane recessed sashes and
double service doors. Rusticated half-arch bridging area
carries flight of 7 stone steps and landing to projecting
Corinthian-columned porch; double 2-panel doors in architrave.
Ground floor windows formerly 11-pane including round-arched
fans are now largely 2-pane; ornate panels beneath windows;
sillband on consoles; ornate pilasters; architraves and ornate
keystones to windows. Statue of Queen Victoria by Thornycroft
above porch. Rusticated quoins to each upper storey. First
floor has tripartite sash in ornate case above porch;
modillion floorband; sillband on paired plinths beneath each,
now 2-pane, sash in pedimented case. Second floor string;
2-pane sashes in segmental-arched openings with eared
architraves, also shouldered to pair of sashes over entrance.
The third floor string has consoles and modillion cornice;
tall tripartite sashes in top-hamper to entrance bay; other
windows similar to those of second floor. 6 ridge chimneys
have moulded stucco caps with bold cornices.
The rounded corner to City Road and Station Road has a
tripartite sash to each storey. A wrought-iron bracket to
hanging sign.
The City Road face has similar detailing to that to Station
Road, but with an added or modified projecting porch to bar
lounge in Art Deco manner, with stone steps to each side. The
detailing of the south wing is similar, but a little smaller
in scale and the brickwork less fine. The rear face to the
hotel garden is of a piece, but more simply expressed.

The former stable wing, now containing ancillary rooms, links
the hotel to the Railway Station, Station Road (qv). One
storey; coach archway has simple jambs and segmental arch with
rusticated voussoirs. Architrave, frieze and cornice; hipped
grey slate roof. The 4 bays right of archway and 2 bays to
left have round-arched fixed lights of 6 and 4 panes plus 4
panes in fans; sillband and impost-band. Flight of 7 quadrant
steps to entrance at corner with hotel has cast-iron railing
and pilaster case to replaced door; a radial-bar semicircular
window.
INTERIOR of hotel retains many features. Hall has ornate
cornice and dado. The 4-storey open-well stair has round
cast-iron columns to well, ornate cast-iron balustrade,
curtail step with rose, stone steps and niches with statues.
Marble floor to reception hall. Classical cases to doors; some
doors of 4 fielded panels. The Garden Room has columns and
some cornices. The Albert Room giving onto the street corner
is largely intact with dado, panels above, fireplace,
overmantel and ceiling cornice. The south wing has oval
geometrical stair through 3 storeys with open string, shaped
brackets, rose, moulded balusters and swept rail.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: stone plinth and cast-iron spear railings
to area before both faces of main block.
HISTORICAL NOTE: when first built the hotel had 2 tall
viewing-platforms built above the roof, which residents could
climb to have a panoramic view of the historic city (c.f. the
approximately contemporary Prospect House, High Street, Malpas
C.P.)
(Hughes T: The Stranger's Handbook: Chester: 1859-1869).

Listing NGR: SJ4130766907

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Queen Hotel, Chester at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q7270404

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)