Number 73 Street Former Fire Station

Number 73 Street, formerly a fire station and now a shop, was built in 1911 and altered later. It was designed by James Strong for Chester City Council. The building features stone-dressed brick, a timber frame with plaster panels, and a clay tile roof.

The exterior is two storeys high. The lower storey originally had three garage bays for fire engines, which have been converted into a shop entrance and two showroom windows. It has yellow sandstone ashlar corner piers, with two intermediate stanchions that are expressed as panelled oak posts. Above each bay is a panelled fascia, and long consoles on the faces of the piers and posts support the jetty-beam that extends to the timber-framed second storey.

The second storey features three half-round oriel windows, each with richly-carved skirts, supported by fan-vaults with oak ribs and plaster panels. Each oriel has four moulded mullions and two moulded transoms, with the central oriel having sidelights of two lights. All windows are adorned with shaped leaded glazing. Beneath the windows, there is a row of rectangular panels, with two rows of two ornate panels positioned between and beside the windows.

The building is topped with three small front gables that boldly jetty out above a row of shaped panels, featuring ornately panelled lozenge-braced trusses. A shaped red brick chimney is located at the south end. At the rear, a large late 20th-century office block abuts the building. The interior has been fitted out with shop materials, and no notable features are visible. There is no cellar.