The Catholic Club

The Catholic Club is a building located on Brook Street in Chester, originally constructed as a hotel and later converted into a public house and now a licensed club. It was built between 1913 and 1914 by John Davies and Sons for Greenall Whitley and Co. The structure is made of red-brown brick in English garden wall bond, accented with yellow sandstone dressings, and features a timber frame with plaster panels and pebbledash. The roof is covered with graded Westmorland green slate.

The building showcases a Vernacular Revival style on the front, while the domestic rear exhibits Queen Anne style. It stands two storeys tall with two wings at right angles, one facing Brook Street and the other Milton Street, which is deeply recessed to accommodate a corner entrance. The ground floor is finished in brick with yellow sandstone dressings and includes mullioned and transomed leaded casements along with canted bay windows in each wing. The entrance features double part-glazed panelled oak doors set within a Roman Doric porch that has an entablature. Above, the first floor displays ornate small framing with jetties supported by herms and curved herringbone braces, along with additional mullioned leaded casements and oriels. The roofs are informally composed, adding to the character of the building.

The rear of the building is pebbledashed and includes a one-storey wing that provides a balcony for the first floor, supported by shaped splat balusters. The rear features small-pane windows that protrude from the wall face, two canted bays, and modillion cornices and eaves, along with five plinthed chimneys with lozenge flues. Although the interior was not inspected, it appears that some features have been removed. The Catholic Club is noted as the most substantial and well-composed example of John Davies's Vernacular Revival public houses in Chester.