Numbers 18 And 20 Street Chester House

Numbers 18 and 20 Street, Chester House, was built in 1936 as a gas showroom on the site of a medieval undercroft and town house. The building, probably steel-framed but designed to appear as a timber frame with plaster panels, has a purple slate roof with a gable facing the street. It is three storeys high plus an attic.

The modern shopfront is recessed, featuring large timber stanchions within timber cases set on stone-clad, battered plinths. Features include arched braces to a bressumer with a barleysugar arris-mould, and rectangular small-framing to the upper storeys and attic gable. A square, eight-light mullioned and transomed oriel window with leaded glass is located on the second storey, featuring carved detailing at its base and top, supported by seven shaped brackets, and projecting a jetty to the third storey via consoles. A carved bressumer reads "CHESTER HOUSE". Above six slightly coved panels is a six-light leaded casement that projects beyond the wall. A tie-beam is inscribed "REBUILT 1936 A.D.". The attic has a two-light leaded casement, plain bargeboards and an oak finial. All windows are fitted with metal sub-frames.