Description

CHESTER CITY (IM)

SJ4065NW GROSVENOR STREET
595-1/5/197 (South East side)
Grosvenor Museum

GV II

Museum. 1885. By TM Lockwood at expense of the first Duke of
Westminster. Stone-dressed Ruabon red brick with steep
red-tile roof.
EXTERIOR: basement and 3 storeys; in TM Lockwood's manner,
opulent. Plinth with band; 2 basement windows east of door and
2 to west. The round-arched entrance, east of centre, has 3
stone steps to landing with wrought-iron double gates, then 4
steps to glazed double doors and screen. The elaborate
doorcase has composite pillars, that to west inscribed THIS
STONE WAS LAID BY THE DUKE OF WESTMINSTER FEBRUARY 3RD 1885;
ornate moulded voussoirs and key; a Muse in each stone
spandrel, one with a palette, the other with globe and
compasses; ornate 2-panel frieze with Grosvenor and Chester
City arms and date 1885, three stone-dressed cross-windows
west of entrance and 2 transomed 1-light windows to east;
stringcourse above lintels. The second storey has dentilled
floor-string, 3 cross-windows west of the entrance, 3 separate
rectangular lights above the doorcase and two 1-light
transomed windows east; a stringcourse above the lintels
carries the plinths of composite pilasters. The third storey
has 3 cross-windows with double transoms west of the entrance.
One above the entrance in a projecting panel on an ornate
corbelled plinth; 2 double-transom 1-light windows, east;
corner oriel on ornate stone corbel; swag frieze and dentilled
cornice; necked gables above entrance bay and central window
in west wing, each bearing a stone eagle about to take flight.
The oriel terminates as a tourelle with a cupola roof
characteristic of Lockwood. The very steep hipped roof behind
the entrance and east bays is of 2-storey height with one
lucarne in the lower storey, 2 in the upper storey and a short
ridge with finials and an octagonal lantern cupola.
INTERIOR: a round archway on polished granite columns with a
smaller arch, on a corbel, to each side leads to a circular
stair-hall having mosaic floor with armorial centrepiece;
mosaic dado; the raked lecture-theatre, west, has 3-panel
ceiling with cross-beams on consoles and dentil cornices. The
gallery, east, has moulded frieze and dentil cornice to coved
ceiling. The lobby behind the stair-hall leads to the Georgian
House, No.20 Castle Street (qv). The front room west of the
entrance hall could not be inspected; the east room has an
ornate fireplace and overmantel, carved window-arrises and
cornice. Geometrical stone stair with mosaic dado rises in 4
flights to second and third storeys where the rooms could not
be inspected; the half-drum above the stair has pilasters
carrying arched radial trusses beneath a rooflight.

Listing NGR: SJ4047465946

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Grosvenor Museum at Wikipedia
• Grosvenor Museum official website
• Wikidata Q5610644

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

• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  The Victorian House Manual (2nd Edition): How They Were Built, Improvements & Refurbishment, Solutions to All Common Defects - Includes Relevant ... ... Properties (Haynes Manual) (Haynes Manuals)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014