Diocesan House

Diocesan House, located at 10 Raymond Street in Chester, is a building that dates back to the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Originally serving as the Ellesmere Canal Company Offices and a Canal Tavern, it later became the Tarvin Rural District Council Offices and Chester Diocesan Offices. The front office section likely dates from the 1790s, while the rear wing, which was once the tavern, was added around 1815. The building features a painted stucco front, with brown brick in English garden wall bond on the sides and rear, topped by a grey slate roof.

The exterior of the building is two storeys high along Raymond Street and is symmetrical in design. It has a central bay with a pediment and slightly recessed wings on either side. The ground floor includes round-arched sash windows with nine panes and radial-bar fans in each bay. A porch on the right side has five stone steps leading to a quarter-landing, with an additional step to a doorway in a Tuscan case on the side of the main block. To the left, a rusticated round-arched opening leads down a flight of 13 stone steps to Tower Wharf. The main block also features a first-floor band, a central 12-pane recessed sash window with an architrave, consoles, and a cornice, along with tripartite sash windows on either side. The east side of the building is blank, while the west side has 16-pane and 12-pane sash windows.

The rear of the building, which was originally the front of the tavern, is also symmetrical. It has a door with two rows of three flush panels framed by simple pilasters, a frieze, and a Doric pediment, with a recessed 12-pane sash window on either side. The first and second floors contain three 12-pane recessed sash windows. The east side of the former tavern features recessed sashes arranged irregularly.

Inside, the building includes six-panel doors and a main dogleg staircase that runs parallel to the front, with winders at the apsidal end of the stairwell. The staircase has open-string construction, shaped brackets, stick balusters, and a swept rail. The former office and tavern wings have been combined, and there is a simpler dogleg stair that once served the tavern. Some cornices are also present throughout the interior.