16, White Friars

No. 16 White Friars is a late 18th-century house, subsequently used as Chester Rural District Council offices and now a municipal office. The building is constructed of Flemish bond brown brick with a grey roof hidden behind parapets, featuring two ridges that run parallel to the street. It has three storeys and five windows. The front has a painted stone plinth and two renewed steps leading to a door consisting of 1, 2, 2, and 1 panels. The lower three panels are fielded, and the upper three are now glazed, set within a Roman Doric stone doorcase with three-quarter columns, a frieze, and a pediment. Two recessed 12-pane sashes flank the entrance, with the lower leaves having been altered. Painted stone sills are present, and all windows have gauged-brick flat arches. A sillband runs along the second storey, with five recessed 12-pane sashes, and the third storey has a sillband with five recessed 6-pane sashes. A lead rainwater pipe is also present. The building is finished with a full cornice of painted stone. A rear extension was added in the 20th century, obscuring much of the original rear elevation. A large stair-sash window remains visible in the rear, featuring a radial-bar fanlight in a round-arched head.

The interior includes a stone-flagged, barrel-vaulted cellar that is likely all original from the 18th century. The hall has replaced skirting and doors, with a round archway containing fluted corner pilasters, architraves, and a fanlight with removed glazing bars. It features a plain frieze and a modillion cornice. The stair hall has a round archway with fluted pilasters, while the front rooms on the east and west sides have cornices. The west rear room has a cornice, and the east room contains a recessed 16-pane sash largely concealed from the exterior, also with a cornice. The former kitchen in the rear wing retains basket-arched recesses for a range and cupboards, which are now empty. In the former back kitchen, a quarry-tile floor remains. The open-well stair has a shaped bracket, covered steps, square newels with urn finials, renewed stick balusters, a swept oak rail, and a wreathed head. On the second-storey landing, skirting and a modillion cornice are present, and the front passage retains skirting and a cornice. Two west rooms were joined to form the former Rural District Council Chamber, which includes a new dado. The stair to the third storey is similar to that of the ground floor, but with likely original reeded balusters. Most doors have been replaced, but architraves have been retained. An internal boxed gutter runs from the rear to the front of the building.