Chester Magistrates Court

CHESTER CITY (IM)

SJ4066SE NORTHGATE STREET AND ROW 595-1/4/315 (East side) 10/01/72 Chester Magistrates Court No.3 (Formerly Listed as: NORTHGATE STREET (East side) Barclays Bank)

GV II

Magistrates' court and offices, formerly part of the King's School which included the Cathedral Choir School. 1875-7. By Sir Arthur Blomfield. Reddish buff sandstone; brown clay tile roof. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys, 7 bays. The wing of the former school is expressed as the main range of a Tudor hall with the great hall on its upper storey. Moulded plinth; buttresses; moulded stringcourses; arched doorway with 2-light mullioned overlight; mullioned and transomed windows of 2 and 3 lights; all glazing to Northgate Street leaded; the south bay projects slightly with side-buttresses; gargoyles; crenellated parapet; coped end-gables; red terracotta ridge-tiles with conical-roofed vents. The gable-end to St Werburgh Street has a 2-light mullioned and transomed window to the lower storey and a 5-light panel-traceried upper window under a 4-centre arch. The magistrates' court wing is linked to the cathedral by an east wing forming part of the same design, now Barclays Bank, St Werburgh Street (qv). INTERIOR: the courtroom and an interview room face Northgate Street; 9-panel pine doors in heavy frames with finials; boarding below dado-rail; decorated chamfered main beams; plaster ceiling panels. A corridor with leaded lights to Abbey Square runs behind the courtroom, with a stone basket archway to a dogleg stone stair with winders at the turn and an oak handrail on ornate iron balusters. The upper rooms could not be inspected. (Miscellaneous Views of Chester: Blomfield AW: Engraving: Proposed new building for King's School: 1875-).

Listing NGR: SJ4050766474