Description

SJ4066SW
595-1/3/400

CHESTER CITY (IM)
WATERGATE STREET AND ROW (South side)
No.83 Watergate Street (Stanley Palace)

(Formerly Listed as: WATERGATE STREET No.83 Stanley Palace)

28/07/55

GV
II
Town house, now office and meeting rooms. 1591 for Sir Peter Warburton and (via dowry to his daughter) from 1596 the Stanleys of Alderley; part subsequently demolished; south west wing rebuilt early C18; north wing rebuilt 1935. Ashlar sandstone plinth; timber frame with plaster panels; brick; slate roof.

EXTERIOR: two storeys; now U-shaped. The east front has four gables, the northernmost rebuilt. Replaced twelve-panel oak door and two-light mullioned window in south bay; similar one-light window in third bay; five-light window in second and fourth bay; narrow full-height panels between openings of lower storey; moulded jetty bressumer, decorated in three southern bays; a projecting mullioned and transomed five-light window in each bay of upper storey has three arched decorated panels beneath; four terms between windows and four Atlantes beneath second window; all glazing is leaded; quadrant-braced panels between windows; replaced jettied moulded tie-beams; wavy herringbone struts in gable; brick south end, probably C18; north wing rebuilt in simplified timber framing.

INTERIOR: the hall has square cross-beams halved over two chamfered main beams; a large recess to rear has cased posts and main beam and ingle-nook to right with bressumer carrying brackets to main beam. Entrance of former screens passage opposite. Pair of oak doors to Queen Anne Room in south west wing, each of three fielded bolection-moulded panels; the room has early C18 panelling in earlier basic structure, with one row beneath dado and one tall row above; repaired panelled overmantel; two plainly chamfered main beams separate three plaster ceiling panels, each with the Stanley of Alderley arms on a raised shield, and motto SANS CHANGER; a rose is in each corner of each panel, and on upper oak panel of overmantel.

Oak stair with panelled cupboard inserted beneath has closed string, square newels, two spiral-moulded balusters per step and heavy moulded rail. The gallery has framed partition north of stair-head with two intermediate rails and vase-posts between lower panels; small panelling to all walls; cased beams. The room above the Queen Anne Room has early C18 panelling, as in the Queen Anne Room. The rebuilt north wing contains no features of special interest.

(Clerk to Chester City Corporation Assembly: Assembly Books: PASSIM).

Listing NGR: SJ4025066199

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Stanley Palace at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q7599846

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

• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)