Chester Railway Station

Chester Railway Station

A railway station with offices and shops, built in 1847-8 by architects Charles Hollis Wild and Francis Thompson, with involvement from Robert Stephenson. Thomas Brassey was the contractor. The building is constructed of pale brown brick with stone dressing, with slate and glazed roofs, and is designed in the Italianate style.

The design comprises a long, symmetrical central block with end pavilions, a 10-window right wing, a shorter left wing, and the Mold Wing set forward. The Mold Wing contains a 2-storey 6-window section followed by a 12-bay train-shed. The overall facade is architecturally homogeneous and punctuated with projecting pavilions.

The front elevation is 2 storeys high. Four cast-iron columns support a glazed entrance canopy with ornate arched brackets and trusses. Additional canopies of 4 bays to the right and 3 bays to the left are carried on cantilevered wrought-iron brackets. A plastered groin-vaulted loggia sits under the left pavilion, while the right pavilion contains offices.

Ground-floor windows are round-arched with large margin-paned sashes set in moulded stone cases. The first-floor windows are margined 12-pane sashes with pedimented cases. The central sashes are tripartite. The pavilions feature emphasised detail including balconies and corner turrets with paired round-arched openings. The wings echo the central range, all embellished with friezes and cornices.

The Mold Wing, positioned at the far left, is expressed similarly to the other facades. Its 3-window right end faces the main station forecourt, with offices and the former train-shed running parallel to the main frontage. It features boldly corniced chimneys.

Internally, the entrance and former public rooms, including the refreshment room, are now stripped or covered. The concourse retains round-arched doorways and windows serving former public rooms and offices, with brick basket arches and a round arch opening to the platforms. The concourse has a glazed roof.

Grand stone-dressed brick stairs at each end of the building lead to an iron lattice-girdered footbridge connecting the near and far platforms. Platforms 4 and 7 form an island between the tracks, with accommodation provided in two pavilions of 11 and 13 bays respectively. These pavilions are constructed of stone-dressed brick with doors and margin-paned sashes set in round-arched openings.

The main platform canopy has twin ridges running parallel with the tracks. The inner edge is carried on a brick arcade running between the second and third track of the main line, with the valley between the ridges supported on 5 cast-iron columns positioned between the pavilions. The outer edge is carried on a lattice girder and stanchions. The north bay platforms have a 20th-century canopy.

The station initially served several railway companies and was named Chester General until the closure of Chester Northgate Station around 1969.