Description

CHESTER CITY (IM)

SJ4065NE LOWER BRIDGE STREET
595-1/6/256 (East side)
28/07/55 Nos.37, 39 AND 41
(Formerly Listed as:
LOWER BRIDGE STREET
(East side)
Nos.37 AND 39
Park House)

GV II

Formerly known as: The County Library LOWER BRIDGE STREET.
Town house, then hotel, later library, now licensed premises
and shop, with upper storeys and rear wing in course of repair
and alteration when inspected in February 1991. 1717, with
late C18 rear wing, altered C20. For Elizabeth Booth. Rendered
brick to front, brown brick to rear and grey slate roof, that
to main block with ridge parallel with front.
EXTERIOR: semi-basement and 3 storeys; 5 windows. No.37 is the
half-basement shop, north, No.39 the upper 3 storeys and No.41
the half-basement wine bar, south. Symmetrical front. 4 steps
down to north forecourt, 2 steps down to south forecourt. The
central entrance has projecting Tuscan porch with 7 repaired
steps to landing between curved wing-walls of painted stone; 4
steps from landing to entrance. The shop and wine-bar have
renewed small-pane fronts. Rusticated quoins. Main door of 6
fielded panels; 2 flush 8-pane sashes with apron sills and
keystones to each side. The second storey has 5 flush 12-pane
sashes with painted stone sills and keys. Cornice; lateral
chimneys. The rear fenestration was in course of repair when
inspected.
INTERIOR: the semi-basement of No.37 has 2 rough beams at
right-angles to the front; No.41, which occupies the south and
rear parts of the semi-basement, has 3 stone walls parallel
with the front, and joists on large almost square beams.
The 3 main storeys could not fully be inspected. The broad
dogleg stair north of the central hall has open string with
carved brackets, 3 fluted balusters per step and swept rail.
The following features were noted on inspection in 1988:
skirting, picture-rail and cornice in north front room; doors
of 6 fielded panels; cornice in entrance hall; 2 basket
arches; a closed-string back stair with bulbous shafts and
disc knops; back rooms altered; a barrel-vaulted ballroom in
the rear wing, refloored in 1991, an ante-room with panelled
plaster ceiling. The second storey of the main block has
round-arched keyed and imposted doorways; no features of

special interest were observed in the third storey. The
ballroom is altered, and some other features replaced.
(Chester Rows Research Project: Grenville J: Lower Bridge
Street, East: 1988-).

Listing NGR: SJ4061165994

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Park House, Chester at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q7137794

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

• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6