Former Premises Of Trustee Savings Bank

The building is the former premises of a Trustee Savings Bank, constructed between 1851 and 1853 by James Harrison. It is a building of group value, considered the most detailed and well-composed of Harrison’s Chester designs. The exterior is predominantly tooled sandstone with smooth flush quoins, and has a grey slate roof.

The building occupies a prominent corner site and is two storeys plus an attic in height. The north-west front, facing Grosvenor Street, features a recessed entrance bay to the east with double carved oak panelled doors set within an arched opening with a label-mould. To its east, there is a single cusped light janitor’s window, and two pairs of cross-windows to the west. Above the entrance is a crenellated oriel with four cusped lights, surmounted by panel tracery. Further up, there is a pair of cross-windows, each topped with four lights of panel tracery beneath a Tudor arch, followed by a four-light mullioned and transomed window with eight lights of panel tracery under a segmental arch. A string-course runs above each window. The gable above the entrance bay is adorned with carved parapet and a finial. The central bay has a string course with carved punctuation stones and crenellated parapet with blank tracery. The west bay has a two-light casement with a label-mould within a gable with a moulded parapet, though the finial has been removed. A well-handled corner clock-turret is faced with blank tracery and topped with a Tudor octagonal stone belfry cupola. The east gable has a chimney with three separated flues on a plinth.

The south-west front, facing Castle Square, displays two mullioned and transomed three-light windows, and one of two lights, along with a blocked secondary entrance. The second storey features a five-light canted oriel with lozenge panels in its parapet, a three-light mullioned and transomed window, another of two lights, and a tripartite mullioned and transomed casement of 3;3;3 lights. A gable with a parapet and finial contains a quatrefoil light. A crenell is present, alongside a dormer gable with a small cusped one-light window, and a crenellated parapet with blank tracery. Two shaped ridge chimneys with separated octagonal crenellated flues on plinths are also present. The rear elevation, partly altered using brick, is inconspicuous and without special features. The interior could not be inspected at the time of listing.