1, 3 AND 5, CHRISTLETON ROAD (See details for further address information)

This is a group of four shops and living accommodation, built between 1898 and 1900. Designed by the architect John Douglas, who also owned the property, it occupies a prominent corner location on Christleton Road in Chester. The building is constructed from squared snecked red sandstone rubble, with timber framing and plaster panels, and Ruabon red brick, all set beneath grey-green slate roofs.

The main three-storey block has five faces, with a canted corner fronting the street. The ground floor features a stone façade with shop windows and a part-glazed entrance door within a stone case. A round, stone-dressed red-brick stair turret to the left has loops and a conical spire with a lead finial. The jettied first floor has two horizontal timber framing rails with mullioned windows, the upper lights being leaded. Brackets support a further jetty at the second floor level, which features herringbone strutting. Dormers with leaded lights are incorporated into the roof, culminating in a short, octagonal spire with a lead finial and weather vane.

A two-storey wing projects to the right along Christleton Road, where the ground floor shop windows have been replaced, although stone piers remain from the original design. The first floor has herringbone-strutted timber framing, mullioned windows and a continuous range of partly leaded glazing including a six-light, round-ended oriel. Two small gabled elements with quadrant braces are also present. The wing projecting to Tarvin Road has replaced shop-fronting and a similar timber-framed first floor with mullioned windows and a seven-light canted oriel, some leaded glazing having been removed. A herringbone-strutted gable faces right, while another, larger gable with quadrant bracing fronts the street, both being jettied. Carved tiebeams, bargeboards, and double loading doors at first floor level, leading to a yard, are also notable features. Shaped red brick chimneys are present throughout.

This represents an inventive street-corner design from a leading Chester architect of the late 19th century. The building was vacant or in partial use when surveyed in 1992.