4, 5 and 6, Abbey Square

Three town houses at numbers 4, 5 and 6 Abbey Square, dating to around 1760. They were built for prebendaries or leaseholders of the Dean and Chapter of Chester Cathedral. Numbers 5 and 6 are now used as offices.

The buildings are constructed in Flemish bond orange brick with grey slate roofs not visible from the front. They feature rusticated stone quoins and painted stone plinths.

Each building has cellars and three storeys. The entrance doors and their treatment vary: No.4 has three altered stone steps leading to a door of eight fielded panels with a radial-bar fanlight containing winged angel heads in each spandrel, set in a case with architrave and hood featuring a frieze and pulvinated dentil cornice. No.5 has two stone steps to a door of eight fielded panels and an overlight with panes shaped as concave lozenges in an ellipse, in a case with panelled pilasters, plain frieze and moulded cornice hood. No.6 has a boot-scraper and two stone steps to a door of five fielded panels with radial-bar fanlight having winged angel-heads and a doorcase matching No.4. Boarded rear access doors appear at the south end of No.4 and north end of No.6.

The window arrangement varies across the frontages. The first storey contains recessed and flush sashes of twelve panes, positioned around the door openings. The second storey has recessed sashes over doors to Nos.4 and 5, with only a single flush sash serving No.6, all of twelve panes. The third storey has nine-pane sashes above the second-storey windows, comprising four flush, four recessed and three flush examples. All windows have painted stone sills and rusticated wedge lintels with ornate false keystones. The front elevation terminates in a painted stone cornice and brick parapet with plain stone coping. There are no external rainwater pipes and two ridge chimneys.

No.4 could not be inspected in detail, but is understood to contain features similar to other former houses on the west side of Abbey Square.

No.5 contains a cellar with peripheral walls of coursed sandstone built on bedrock, together with wine bins and a covered cellar door. The first-storey south front room features a four-fielded-panel door, panelled shuttered embrasure, a blocked corner chimney breast and a roll-moulded cornice. The north front room has a four-fielded-panel door, panelled shuttered embrasure, rail and cornice. The south rear room contains a four-fielded-panel door, pilaster case to the window, embrasure, a fire-corner cupboard and a chamfered beam. The north rear room has a five-fielded-panel door. A round archway with fluted pilasters provides access to a closed-string dogleg stair with an ovolo newel, three column-on-vase balusters per step and fielded dado panels. The second storey features four-fielded-panel doors, two interconnecting front rooms with architraves to embrasures, blocked fireplaces and cornices. The third storey has four-panel doors, a blocked corner breast, a blocked fireplace and architraves to embrasures.

No.6 has a cellar with coursed sandstone peripheral walls on bedrock and brick partitions. A brick barrel-vault serves the front chamber, with stone winder steps and a four-fielded-panel door. The first-storey front south room has a replaced door and a fireplace with a side-cupboard featuring a one-fielded-panel door on old long hinges with fluted pilasters to an alcove above, a narrow breast-side cupboard, two shuttered embrasures with benches, and a cornice. A close-string open-well stair has three column-on-vase balusters per step and chamfered newels. The second storey contains a four-fielded-panel door and a door with two rows of three fielded panels. The south front room has two panelled shuttered embrasures with benches, a blocked chimney breast and a cross-beam with a lamb's tongue stop at its north end. The north front room has a panelled embrasure with bench and a chamfered beam with lamb's tongue stops. The third storey features four-fielded-panel doors, panelled embrasures with benches and blocked fireplaces.