Description

SJ4066
1932-1/6/102
24/09/90

CHESTER CITY (EM)
FOREGATE STREET
(South side)

Nos.10-18 (Even)

II

GV

Bank and shop. The west part 1896 by TM Lockwood, the east
part 1911 by WT Lockwood for National Provincial Bank of
England, now National Westminster Bank. Buff sandstone and
timber frame with plaster panels; grey slate roofs.
EXTERIOR: the west part of the front to Foregate Street and
the face to St John's Street have 3 storeys plus attics, the
east part has 2 storeys and attic.
The whole of the ground storey and the entrance bay to
Foregate Street are of stone in the Classical manner of a C17
country builder; all other parts of the upper storeys are
timber-framed in late C16-early C17 style with close studding,
shaped panel-tops and some shaped panels and herringbone
braces.
Front to Foregate Street. The first storey has a canted
doorway at the corner with St John's Street with panelled
double doors, a wood case and a concave ceramic overpanel
inscribed "NATIONAL PROVINCIAL BANK OF ENGLAND" in raised
capitals; moulded plinth; the banking hall has 5 hardwood
windows, each with a large lower pane, a transom and 2 upper
panes, the west window has a shouldered architrave, the others
are in 2 pairs with Ionic pilasters and cornice; further east
a slightly recessed bay has two 1-pane windows in shouldered
architraves; next, an entrance bay, the doors replaced in a
round-arched opening with shouldered architrave and projecting
keystone carrying a blank panel between 2 putti; east of the
entrance bay the ground storey is plainer, having a panel with
the raised shield of the National Provincial Bank, an altered
window and a camber-arched doorway with shouldered architrave,
triple keystone and broken pediment; the shopfront to No.18 is
of C20 date.
The second storey has, above the banking hall, 2 shallow
canted 5-light partly-leaded oriels with moulded mullions and
2 transoms; the recessed bay has a 3-light mullioned and
transomed casement; the entrance bay has a stone mullioned and
transomed casement with moulded sill and curved broken
pediment: 2 large 4-light mullioned windows east of the
entrance bay have 2 transoms and leaded glazing; a canted
6-light oriel over the shop has 2 transoms and leaded glazing,
with a 1-light transomed window west and a similar 3-light
window, east.

The third storey, above the banking hall, jettied on ornate
brackets, has 2 canted 5-light oriels; the recessed bay has a
flat-roofed 3-light mullioned and transomed leaded dormer; the
stone entrance bay has a putto cartouche beneath a 4-light
mullioned and transomed leaded casement with moulded sill and
curved broken pediment beneath a moulded semicircular gable,
dated 1911 in a carved wreath. East of the entrance bay are 2
flat-roofed 4-light leaded dormers.
The attic storey above the banking hall has 2 jettied gables,
each with a 4-light leaded casement and a small cock-loft
window; ornamented bargeboards; red brick chimneys.
West face to St John's Street has 5 windows to the first
storey, arranged and detailed as those to the banking hall. A
stone-dressed red-brick lateral chimney with blue diapering
dated 1896 stops the return of the front to Foregate Street
which has a 2-light partly-leaded window with 2 transoms, to
the second storey. South of the chimney the second storey has
a 3-light partly-leaded window with 2 transoms and a 4-light
canted oriel with 2 transoms and some leaded glazing; third
storey has a 3-light leaded casement and a 4-light mullioned
and transomed oriel, with a jettied gable above.
INTERIOR: modern linings hide any features in the publicly
accessible parts of the premises.
This item is on the visually important south-east corner of
Foregate Street and St John's Street and closes the south view
from Frodsham Street, forming the terminus of the Vernacular
Revival frontages in the city centre.
(Chester City Council and Committee: Improvement Committee
Minutes: 29.5.1895 & 1.6.1910; The Buildings of England:
Pevsner N & Hubbard E: Harmondsworth: 1971-: 165).

Listing NGR: SJ 40772 66348

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26656534

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

• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)