Description

CHESTER CITY (IM)

SJ4066SW NORTHGATE STREET AND ROW
595-1/3/317 (East side)
Nos.54 & 56 Street

GV II

2 town houses, probably with shops, now one shop with storage.
Late C17 and early C18, but possibly earlier elements; the
upper storeys re-cased 1900. English garden wall bond brown
brickwork, sandstone, pebbledash, plaster and pargeting to the
third and fourth storeys, green slate roof with 2 gables to
the front.
EXTERIOR: full cellars and 4 storeys. Shopfronts of c1900 have
wood frames, leaded glazing above the transom with the City
Arms of Durham, Salisbury, Newcastle, London, Chester,
Carlisle and York; the windows have arched heads with art
nouveau motifs carved in the spandrels; modern fascias. The
second storey, of brick with flush red sandstone quoins, has 2
mullioned and transomed wood windows to the street and one to
the south end, with shaped leaded glazing above the transoms;
a frieze and cornice at third storey floor level; pilasters at
north end and south-west corner; 2 canted oriels to the street
and one to the south end rise through the third and fourth
storeys; pargeted panels beneath the third storey windows to
the street are inscribed ANNO DOM:MDCCCC. the south-facing
window has a strapwork panel; there is a continuous pargeted
band between the heads of the third storey windows and the
fourth storey sills; pargeted gables on jettied collar beams
above the oriels; bargeboards with moulded cornices; old brick
chimney on south gable and on ridge to north; red clay ridge
tiles.
INTERIOR: the cellars to both former houses have walls of
bedrock and sandstone, with some brickwork, the bases of the
chimneys and 3 chamfered oak beams to each cellar, parallel
with the street. No features of special interest are exposed
to view in the first storey; an inserted stair against the
north party wall from the street to the second storey. The
front rooms in the second storey of both houses have 2 painted
chamfered beams, stopped at their inner ends; the party wall
between the former houses is 18 inches thick; all main rooms
had corner fireplaces, some now blocked. No.56 has an oak
dogleg stair from second to fourth storey with square newels
and 2 stout barleysugar balusters per step; a similar stair in
No.54 remains only between storeys 3 and 4; there is an oak
cupboard with large door panels in a rear room of the second
storey, and 2 flush 12-pane sashes to the enclosed rear

light-well, one with thick quadrant-moulded glazing bars of
early type. The roof structure appears to date from 1900, but
the form of the building was little changed; the architect is
mentioned but not named in the City Council Improvement
Committee Minutes.
(Improvement Committee Minutes: Chester City Council:
27/9/1899 & 10/01/1900; Blomfield AW: Miscellaneous Views of
Chester - Engraving: Holborn, London: 1875-).

Listing NGR: SJ4048966492

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26656946

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

• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas