Description

SJ4166
1932-1/6/266
31/07/70

CHESTER CITY (EM)
STATION ROAD
(North side)

Chester Railway Station
(Formerly Listed as:
CITY ROAD
Chester General Station Entrance
(including Mold Wing))

II*

GV

Railway station, offices and shop. 1847-8. By CH Wild and
Francis Thompson, with some involvement by Robert Stephenson;
the contractor Thomas Brassey. Stone-dressed pale brown brick;
slate and glazed roofs. Italianate style.
PLAN/EXTERIOR: 2 storeys to front; a long, symmetrical central
block with end pavilions plus a 10-window right wing, a
shorter left wing and the Mold Wing set forward with a
2-storey 6-window section then a 12-bay train-shed. The very
long overall facade is architecturally homogeneous, punctuated
with projecting pavilions. 4 cast-iron columns support glazed
entrance-canopy with trusses on ornate arched brackets. A
shallower canopy of 4 bays right and 3 bays left on
cantilevered wrought-iron brackets. A plastered groin-vaulted
loggia under the left pavilion; the right pavilion contains
offices. The ground-floor windows are round-arched with large
margin-paned sashes in moulded stone cases. Margined 12-pane
sashes to first floor have pedimented cases. The pavilions
have emphasised detail including balconies, and corner turrets
with paired round-arched openings. The central sashes are
tripartite. The wings are expressed similarly to the central
range; all have friezes and cornices.
The Mold wing, far left, expressed similarly to the other
facades, its 3-window right end facing the main station
forecourt and the long side of the offices plus the former
train-shed parallel with the main frontage. It has boldly
corniced chimneys.
INTERIOR: the entrance and former public rooms, including
refreshment room where in 1859 "the utmost wish of your soul"
could "be incontinently gratified" (T Hughes - The Stranger's
Guide) are stripped or covered. The concourse has round-arched
doorways and windows to former public rooms and offices and
brick basket arches and round arch to platforms; glazed roof.
A grand stone-dressed brick stair to each end of the iron
lattice-girdered footbridge linking near and far platforms.
Platforms 4 and 7 form an island between tracks with
accommodation in two pavilions, of 11 and 13 bays

respectively, of stone-dressed brick with doors and
margin-paned sashes in round-arched openings. The main canopy
has twin ridges running parallel with the tracks. The inner
edge is carried on a brick arcade running between the second
and third track of the main line. The valley between the
ridges is on 5 cast-iron columns between the pavilions. The
outer edge is on a lattice girder and stanchions. The north
bay platforms have a C20 canopy.
HISTORICAL NOTE: at first the station served several railway
companies and until closure of Chester Northgate Station c1969
was named Chester General.
(The Buildings of England: Pevsner N & Hubbard E: Cheshire:
Harmondsworth: 1971-: 159; Bartholomew City Guides: Harris B:
Edinburgh: 1979-: 166-7).

Listing NGR: SJ 41318 66980

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Chester railway station at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q2478175

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

• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)