Description

CHESTER CITY (EM)

SJ4066 THE GROVES
1932-1/6/148 (North side)
28/07/55 The Old Palace

GV II*

Palace of the bishops of Chester, later YMCA hostel, now
offices. Dated 1751, with C19 and C20 alterations.
Stone-dressed red brick; hipped grey slate roofs.
EXTERIOR: cellars and 3 storeys of 11 windows to main block.
Stone plinth; quoins with concave rustication. Canted
projecting entrance bay, probably later C18, has replaced door
flanked by a 12-pane sash in each oblique face; three 12-pane
sashes left of entrance bay and 5 to right. The first floor
has 12-pane sashes, with 3 to entrance-bay; the second floor
has 6-pane sashes. The sashes are recessed two-and-a-quarter
inches; the entrance bay has simple painted stone sills and
rubbed brick flat arches; other sashes have well-moulded sills
of painted stone and rusticated wedge lintels with ornate
keys. First-floor band; first-floor sillband to entrance bay;
rainwater pipe with moulded lead head to each side of entrance
bay, that to left dated 1751. Modillion cornice; 8-course
brick parapet has stone corner blocks and coping. The left end
has irregular pattern of sashes, most probably replaced. The
right end of the main block has an inner-corner door to the
ground floor; three 12-pane sashes to first floor and three of
6 panes to second floor, detailed as on main face of front.
A one-bay right wing apparently of the original build; a
probably mid C19 one-storey heavily stone-dressed lobby
projects between the original building and a 3-storey 5-window
recessed wing detailed as the entrance bay of the main block;
the right end is canted, with a 12-pane ground floor sash in
each face, one to each oblique face of the first and second
floors.
The exterior of the building other than the front door is
virtually unaltered by C20 changes of use.
INTERIOR: partly sub-divided, c1980, for office use, but
retaining features of interest. A good open-well open-string
stair of 6 flights but, if earlier description was correct,
with turned balusters replacing the Chinese Chippendale
balustrade then mentioned. A stone back stair with iron stick
balusters and rail; a replaced secondary stair; some original
6-panel doors. A room with panelling, now painted and probably
restored, on the ground floor, with one row of panels below
dado and a tall row above dado; an excellent main room, now
boardroom, on first floor with plasterwork intact including a

coved ceiling with exuberant mid C18 decoration; a good deal
of minor features of C18 plasterwork; some fireplaces and
overmantels.
HISTORICAL NOTE: built for Bishop Peploe mid C18 according to
Pevsner, but according to Harris occupied as the Bishop's
Palace 1870, when the former palace in the Cathedral Precinct
was replaced by the King's School, to 1921.
(The Buildings of England: Pevsner N & Hubbard E: Cheshire:
Harmondsworth: 1971-: 165-166; Bartholomew City Guides: Harris
B: Edinburgh: 1979-: 145).

Listing NGR: SJ4084366069

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Old Bishop's Palace, Chester at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q15263740

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

• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)