Numbers 7 and 8 and Attached Walls

Numbers 7 and 8 Abbey Square, Chester

Two adjoining town houses built between 1754 and 1760 for Mascie Taylor and Robert Taylor on 40-year leases from the Dean and Chapter of Chester Cathedral. Number 7 is now used as a dental surgery and Number 8 as offices. The buildings are constructed in Flemish bond orange brick with a grey slate roof.

Exterior

The houses rise to three storeys above cellars, with a painted stone plinth. Number 7 has four apron steps of stone leading to a door of eight fielded panels set within an Ionic case of painted stone with fluted pilasters, a pulvinated frieze and a segmental pediment with modillions. Number 8 has similar steps and a similar door set within a Roman Doric doorcase.

Each house has two 12-pane flush sash windows to the first storey, three similar sashes to the second storey, and three 6-pane sashes in square openings to the third storey. All windows have moulded sills of painted stone and rusticated lintels with ornate false keystones. A painted stone cornice runs across the front with a brick parapet above topped by plain stone coping. Number 8 retains a Sun Insurance plate. There are no external waterpipes. A ridge chimney serves Number 7, with a shared chimney to the east.

The west side of Number 7, facing the Little Abbey Gateway passage, has a flush sandstone plinth possibly dating from before 1750. This elevation features two windows with cambered brick heads to the first storey and flush 6-piece sashes to each upper storey. The rear elevations have flush sashes under cambered brick heads, those to the lower storeys featuring shaped keystones of painted brick.

Interior

Number 7 has a patterned tile floor to the hall. Doors throughout are of six fielded panels. The front room on the ground floor features one row of broad panels beneath the dado rail and a row of tall panels above it. It has panelled shuttered embrasures, a panelled basket-arched alcove, dentil cornice and ceiling rose; the overmantel has been removed. The rear ground floor room has a fire surround with pilasters and an upper mantel on four vase pilasters, a festooned frieze and ceiling cornice. The altered rear window sits in a round bay with panelled shutters and a ceiling rose.

The stair hall contains two arches with pilasters and a pier in the Chinese manner, leading to a good Chinese open-well stair in a panelled well with a domed rooflight and cornices. The second storey has doors of six fielded panels. The front west and east rooms feature a blocked connecting archway with pilasters, panelled embrasures, a marble fireplace and cornices. The rear rooms have panelled embrasures with a bench and cornices. The third storey has doors of four fielded panels, panelled embrasures with benches and a simple fireplace. The attic contains trusses of the hipped roof.

Number 8's hall has a patterned tile floor and plaster cornice with doors of six fielded panels. The inner face of the front door is boarded and a pilastered archway leads to the rear. The stair has four steps with wreaths to each side of the curtail and three column-on-vase balusters per step, an open string with carved brackets and swept rail. The upper storeys have doors of five fielded panels. The second storey front room has architraves to embrasures, a fireplace, frieze and cornice. The dogleg stair to the third storey is offset and detailed in a similar but simpler manner to the stair below.

Subsidiary Features

A brick garden wall is attached to the rear of the properties, standing between two and three metres high. It features four stone steps to a diagonally boarded four-panel door on the west side. The sandstone plinth along the north side may date from before 1850 and includes a blocked doorway with a plain stone cap.