The Georgian House

The Georgian House is a town house from the mid to late 18th century, now preserved and displayed by the Grosvenor Museum. It stands on the north side of Castle Street in Chester.

The front elevation is constructed of brown brick in Flemish bond, with a hipped grey slate roof. The building rises three storeys over three bays. A stone step leads to the entrance door, which has two short panels, two long panels, two short panels and two long panels, topped by a four-pane overlight set in a bolection moulding of painted stone. To the east of the door are two flush twelve-pane sash windows. The second storey is marked by a painted stone floorband beneath three flush twelve-pane sash windows, and the third storey similarly has three flush twelve-pane sash windows above another floorband. All sashes have painted stone sills and gauged brick flat arches with projecting keystones. A cast-iron rainwater pipe runs down the west side. The roofline is finished with a painted stone frieze and cornice, with a lateral chimney projecting from each side.

The east side reveals construction history. An unbroken vertical joint, located 5 metres back by the chimney, marks where older brickwork in English bond and irregular bond meets the Flemish bond front. Behind this joint, the brickwork shows evidence of earlier phases: the floorband towards the front consists of three courses of brick, whilst towards the rear the second storey floorband is taller, with a 17th-century band comprising one course, a band of console-shaped corbel-bricks and two oversailing courses. A tall staircase sash of 21 panes with a cambered head and no sill cuts through these bands. Each storey has a blocked window, with the third storey floorband raised above the head of the former second storey window. A flush sixteen-pane sash was inserted to the first storey. The rear elevation is rendered at first storey and second storey floorband level. The second and third storeys each have two flush twelve-pane sash windows; above these, a casement of two eight-pane lights sits in a gable to the attic. Rear windows have gauged-brick heads but no sills. The third storey floorband continues from the east side.

Interior spaces reveal substantial mid-18th-century detail. Steps branch down from the front room to front and rear cellars; the former is barrel-vaulted with a brick chute from Castle Street, and both cellars are covered with waterproof render. The first storey front room features six-fielded panel doors from the hall and stair hall, full wall panelling with one row beneath the dado rail and a taller row above, a cast-iron grate and cornice. The hall and stair hall have patterned tile floors and a panelled basket-arch of painted timber. Doors of six fielded panels connect to No.22 and to the kitchen, which contains a late 19th-century range with a cambered oak bressumer, a door of six fielded panels to the rear, and a chamfered cross-beam. The rear east room has a corner flue, a two-panel ceiling with a broad cross-beam and cornice to each panel. The stair hall has a corniced two-panel ceiling.

The staircase is a focal feature: an oak open-well closed-string stair with square dropped newels, two heavy barleysugar balusters per step and straight moulded rectangular rails. It rises in nine flights to both upper storeys and the attic. The second storey landing has a two-panel corniced ceiling. The front room is fully panelled with a softwood broad-boarded floor, a six-fielded panel door in a panelled case and a marble fireplace with cornice. Two doors in the west wall of the landing serve adjoining spaces—one of six fielded panels, the other with plain panels. The rear room is fully panelled with a six-fielded panel door; the east rear room has all surfaces covered. The third storey landing features a two-panel door and a plain-beamed ceiling, with one six-fielded panel door and one two-fielded panel door in the west wall. The front room has a corner fireplace and two chamfered front-to-back beams. The back west room has a two-fielded panel door, corner fireplace and a chamfered cross-beam. The east room has a chamfered cross-beam and corner fireplace. The attic contains oak purlins.