Bank House

CHESTER CITY (IM)

SJ4066SW WHITE FRIARS 595-1/3/442 (North side) 28/07/55 No.18 Bank House

GV II

Detached town house, now surgeries. Probably largely mid C18, altered, with a little possibly medieval stonework. Brown brick in irregular bond; grey slate roof, largely concealed. EXTERIOR: 3 storeys, of 2 or more builds. The front to White Friars has a staggered vertical joint near the centre, and irregular fenestration. Door of 2 flush panels, 2 fielded panels and 2 panels now glazed in a timber case with roses in corners of frieze; a later lattice porch of wood; 3 nearly flush horned sashes with painted stone sills just above ground level and slightly cambered gauged brick arches west of door, one of 12 panes and 2 now 4 panes; a sash of 16-panes east of the door. The west part of the second storey has 3 recessed 12-pane sashes; the east part has a tall 10 x 3 pane stair window and a flush 12-pane sash. The third storey has 2 recessed 16-pane sashes, west, and a flush 12-pane sash east. Parapet with plain stone coping; gable chimneys. The east side has a door now part-glazed, a replaced second storey window and a projecting stack. The south 2m of the east face are slightly recessed. The north face has 3 gables; the intersections suggest that the central gable was built first, probably the north wing of an L-shaped house whose west wing would have coincided with the central portion of the present west front; note the chimney at the internal corner of the 2 suggested wings, and a portion of probably medieval stonework near the centre of the first storey, north. The first storey has a sandstone plinth, an altered door in a lattice porch similar to that to front and miscellaneous fenestration; the second storey has a flush tripartite sash of 4;12;4 panes in east wing, a central nearly flush 12-pane sash and a similar sash, set towards the centre, in the west wing; the third storey has a central 16-pane flush sash in each of the 3 gable-ends. The north face may at one period have formed an almost symmetrical front to the house. INTERIOR: the surgeries could not be inspected. The south-west, now waiting room, has panelled embrasures, 6-panel doors with carved lions-heads at corners of architraves and a panelled plaster ceiling, formerly to more than one room. The former kitchen, northeast, has a blocked range-opening and a former alcove. The open-well newel stair, evidently C18, has

balustrade covered. NOTE: c.f. the stonework in the north face of Bank House with the sandstone portion of its garden wall to No.16 White Friars (qv).

Listing NGR: SJ4043366113