Description

CHESTER CITY (IM)

SJ4066SW WHITE FRIARS
595-1/3/440 (North side)
10/01/72 No.14
White Friars House

GV II

Town house, now surgeries. Cellars probably partly medieval;
rebuilding above ground level dated 1796; altered internally
and to rear. Painted stone and brown Flemish bond brick with
grey slate roof, ridge parallel with street.
EXTERIOR: 3 storeys, 4 windows. Painted stone plinth with
cellar chute, formerly 2; 3 courses of banded rustication;
apron step and 2 steps in recessed porch to door of 6 fielded
panels, the top pair now glazed, with overlight of 9 margined
panes; a painted stone architrave within a substantial timber
case with plinths and volutes to panelled pilasters with
recessed roses in capitals and carved brackets to a dentilled
segmental pediment; recessed sashes; 2 west of the entrance
and one east of it, now of 4 panes, in painted ashlar. Above
the second storey sillband the face is brick, with 4 recessed
sashes per storey, those to the third storey having short
upper leaves; wedge lintels; a third storey sillband; a
modillion cornice; gable chimneys.
The second storey balcony is removed, but its 9 iron brackets
in the form of serpents or dragons are in place. The building
is 50m from front to back. The rear wing is much altered, but
has brickwork of C18 character and some flush sashes; a timber
gutter near the south end of the rear wing is dated 1796.
INTERIOR: the cellars have probably medieval tooled squared
sandstone rubble outer walls to the south, the southern 5m of
the west wall and the lower courses of the east and north
walls; the cellars are approx 15m front to back; a
cupboard-type recess in the south wall; 3 stone winder-steps
against the north wall to a now blocked access. Where not of
sandstone the cellar walls are brick; probably C18, with
barrel-vaulted recesses built against the sides; brick
wine-bins; sandstone steps from hall.
The first storey has floors of late C18 coloured patterned
tiles; the 2 front rooms are thrown into one; a simple
pilastered fireplace, east, and a replaced fireplace, west;
the passage to the rear wing has a chamfered beam, now
painted, along a partly-recessed portion of its east, now
party wall, perhaps pre C18. The open-well stone stair has
shaped soffit and nosings, curtail step, shaped cast-iron
balusters and swept rail with wreath.

The third and fourth storey rooms could not be inspected, but
have some panelling.

Listing NGR: SJ4046266106

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• White Friars House official website
• Wikidata Q26657032

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

• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings