Description

SJ 4167 CHESTER CITY (EM) WESTMINSTER ROAD
(East side)
1932-1/9/298
Former Westminster Road
23.7.1998 School and Schoolhouse,
now centre and flats

II

Former girls primary school now community centre, with attached former schoolhouse, now flats. 1865- 7. By John Douglas. For the second Marquis of Westminster, with some later extension. Brown Flemish bond brick with grey-green slate roofs. Asymmetric plan; lancet style.
PLAN/EXTERIOR: The school has a central hall set back with a differing wing to each side containing smaller hall, schoolrooms and ancillary rooms; the 2-storey schoolhouse, symmetrical, adjoins left. The schoolhouse has 2 steps to replaced boarded door, 1-pane fanlight in pointed arch; tripartite window, now 2;2;2 pane, to each side; 2 pairs of shorter 2-pane windows to first floor, under hipped dormers with lead finials, one damaged; corbelled string at first floor and beneath eaves; a corbelled, plinthed brick chimney at each end.
Left wing of school has gables to front and right, 4 lancets to front and large 16-pane schoolroom window in arched recess facing right; small porch in corner with lancet to front, framed and diagonally boarded door facing right; school hall has a pair of lancets, a pair of tall lancets with roundel above, under a gable, and a small C20 flat-roofed extension, but too prominent, in corner with right wing. The wing has 3 probably inserted 16-pane windows, lancet under dormer-gable and a projecting front gable with stepped 12;15;12-pane lancets; corbelled eaves and verges; a plinthed chimney on ridge of each wing. 5 lucarnes to hall roof; 2 ridge vents. The right end has a 15-pane lancet under gable, a gabled arched porch with panelled sidelights and replaced door. The rear has apsidal end to right wing, fenestration and detailing similar to that to front.
INTERIOR: a number of items including doors typical of Douglas's detailing; exposed queen post and king post trusses.
HISTORICAL NOTE: this was one of the first 12 of the identified executed commissions by John Douglas, out of some 650 dated between 1860 and 1911. Compare with Davenham Church of England Primary School, Vale Royal Borough, Cheshire, designed in Edward Paley's office when Douglas, who was native to an adjacent parish. was his pupil.
(Hubbard E: The Work of John Douglas: London: 1991-).

Listing NGR: SJ4170967144

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26656677

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

• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2