Description

CHESTER CITY (EM)

SJ4066 FOREGATE STREET
1932-1/6/112 (North side)
27/10/89 No.15

GV II

Bank. 1921. By Francis Jones. For the Manchester and Liverpool
District Bank Ltd. Extended 1964 by Saxon Smith and Partners
and now occupied by the Royal Bank of Scotland. Steel frame
clad in sandstone and timber frame with plaster panels;
Westmorland green slate roof. An accomplished late example of
the Vernacular Revival.
EXTERIOR: the one-bay south front to Foregate Street and the
south bay of the 5-bay east front to Frodsham Street
containing a lobby to the banking hall with offices above are
of 3 storeys plus an attic; the east front to the tall banking
hall has one full storey of offices and an attic above. The
timber frame is jettied at floor and sill levels of the second
storey of the south bay and at sill level of the third storey
of all bays; all gables have coved jetties; the principal
posts, bressumers, tie-beams, bargeboards, mullions and
transom are carved or moulded.
The front to Foregate Street has a first storey of rock-faced
squared snecked red sandstone with a nailed boarded oak door
of 3 leaves, east, and 2 fixed oak mullioned and transomed
windows of 4 lights; the upper storeys are timber-framed; the
second storey has a row of 12 arched panels beneath continuous
leaded glazing comprising 3 mullioned and transomed casements
of 4 lights; the third storey has fenestration similar to the
second storey above a row of 12 panels with quadrant braces;
the gabled attic has a shallow canted oriel of 5 lights with a
jetty above and small framing; bargeboards; rainwater head
west of gable dated 1921; ornate rainwater head, east.
The front to Frodsham Street has a plinth of rock-faced
squared snecked sandstone rubble, an entrance-and-stair bay of
sandstone ashlar with 2 timber-framed gabled bays to south,
and one to the north with a sandstone ashlar extension beyond
dated 1964. The southernmost bay has two 3-light mullioned and
transomed windows, separated by a principal post, to the first
storey; 5-light mullioned and transomed canted oriels to
second and third storeys and 5-light casement to attic; other
features similar to those on front to Foregate Street; the
rainwater head north of the gable is dated 1921. The bay to
each side of the entrance has a tall window of 4 pairs of
lights with 2 transoms, with a column of 7 quadrant-braced
panels to each side; the second storey of each bay has

mullioned and transomed casements of 2;4;2 lights above a row
of 10 quadrant-braced panels; each gable has a 4-light
mullioned and transomed casement in small framing. The
entrance-and-stair bay has a nailed boarded doorway in a
recessed Tudor arch with a tall recessed stair window above
with mullion and 2 transoms; the roof descends to eaves
between the adjacent gables; the rainwater head south of the
stair is dated 1921.
The added northernmost bay of 4 storeys, labelled Bank
Chambers, has boarded double doors in a Tudor arch opening and
a 3-light mullioned window with a recessed panel beneath upper
storey; moulded string course raised above the uppermost
window; parapet with moulded cap; 2 rainwater heads dated
1964. The rear is of brick with no visible features of special
interest.
INTERIOR: the lobby from Foregate Street has double inner
doors of oak with leaded glazing; the entrance from Frodsham
Street is blocked. The banking hall altered in 1964 and 1984,
has panelling, a west gallery with rail on turned balusters
and a ceiling with oak-cased primary and secondary beams and
plaster panels.
(Chester City Council and Committee: Improvement Committee
Minutes: 1920-1921).

Listing NGR: SJ4075466385

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26656535

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

• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)