Description

CHESTER CITY (IM)

SJ4066SW WHITE FRIARS
595-1/3/453 (South side)
10/01/72 Nos.23 AND 25
(Formerly Listed as:
WHITEFRIARS
No.23)
(Formerly Listed as:
WHITEFRIARS
No.25)

GV II

Formerly 3 town houses, then 2, now an office. The gabled east
part of No.23 is C17, altered; the west part of No.23 and all
No.25 probably formed a pair of early C18 houses converted
1753 into one. The cellars are of medieval origin, truncated
C18 or later. Brown brick of C17 irregular English garden wall
bond and C18 Flemish bond; grey slate roofs, that to the C17
house having gable to street, the rest having ridge parallel
with street.
EXTERIOR: the C17 part has 2 storeys of one window, the C18
part 3 storeys of 5 windows.
The C17 house, east, has rendered plinth, altered first storey
with inserted recessed bow window; second storey floor-band; a
tripartite nearly flush sash with no sill, a flattish
basket-arched brick head; most glazing bars removed; parapet
with plain stone coping to gable.
The C18 houses, west, have a rendered plinth. No.23 has door
of 4 fielded panels with plain overlight and a painted wedge
lintel with cambered soffit; a replaced 4-pane recessed horned
sash with boxes exposed. No.25 has replaced 6-panel door with
plain overlight in an eared panelled timber doorcase with
cornice and hood, and an inserted recessed bowed window. The
upper storey windows are set higher west of the door to No.25;
all windows have painted stone sills and wedge lintels with
cambered soffits. Painted second storey floor band and
replaced horned sashes, 2 recessed and 3 flush, the 2 to the
west set higher. Painted third storey floor-band; 5 flush
sashes, that to centre replaced and horned and the 2 to west
set higher; central lead rainwater head and pipe inscribed
R:GA:1753; painted stone cornice; west gable chimney in front
of ridge.
The rear is in irregular bond brickwork looking C17 and early
C18; the C17 portion has a flattish basket-arched head to one
broad window-opening in each storey; the C18 portion has no
features of special interest visible.

INTERIOR: a cellar to each house; the structure of that to
No.23 was not accessible; that to No.25 was partly filled or
blocked off C18 or later but shows part of the medieval
sandstone rubble west and rear walls and has a wide stone
stair. At the cellar entry to No.23, with door of 3 broad
boards 16mm thick on gudgeons, indications of a former C17
panelled oak stair are visible. The first storey has a
probable former inglenook in a front room of No.23, now with
cast-iron beam; the rear wing has a corner fireplace and a
back door of 6 fielded panels of early type; a cross-boarded
door on old long hinges. In No.25 the hall has 2 basket
archways and, in passage to No.23, two irregular archways, all
with panelled pilasters; a back room has a panelled embrasure
and plaster cornice. Renewed stair in No.23; the closed-string
stair in No.25 has a narrow well, panelled string, newels, 3
column-on-vase balusters per step and a heavy moulded rail.
The second storey has a door of 2 fielded panels and panelled
embrasure in the east front room of No.25; the west front room
has benches and side-panels in embrasures, 2-panel door with
architrave and good plaster cornice; the back east room has
door of 2 fielded panels to outer face and 4 fielded panels to
inner face, wood fire-surround with carved pilasters and three
carved frieze panels depicting a dairy farming scene between 2
swags; sub-panels to embrasure and a good plaster cornice. The
third storey front east room in No.25 has a 5-panel door; the
rear room has a mid C18 fireplace with eared architrave and a
carved swag frieze.
NOTE interior inspected non-sequentially.

Listing NGR: SJ4044766076

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26657038

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

• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Huddersfield in 50 Buildings
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)