Oddfellows Hall

Oddfellows Hall, Nos. 16-24 (even) Lower Bridge Street, Chester

A substantial town house, later converted to a school and now functioning as a club, offices and shops. Built in 1676 and altered in 1678 for Lady Mary Calveley, the building was occupied in the early 18th century by John Williams, who served as Attorney General of Denbighshire and Montgomeryshire from 1702 and later of Cheshire and Flintshire from 1727. The building underwent significant alterations in the late 19th century when the access was reconfigured, a north bay was added, and the first storey of the front was projected forward to accommodate shops.

The building is constructed of brown brick in irregular bond, rendered to the front, with a hipped grey slate roof that bellies towards the eaves and rises to a central rectangular flat roof. Formerly symmetrically placed lateral chimneys sit atop the roof.

The exterior comprises three storeys. The first storey contains five bays originally, later expanded to six. Late 19th-century alterations include a projecting porch to the third bay from the south, featuring a basket arch beneath a broken pediment with egg-and-dart moulding and bulgy pilasters to each side. "ODDFELLOWS HALL" appears in raised capitals on the frieze. A projecting shopfront south of the porch contains a small-pane part-glazed door and a 3-light transomed shop window; two similar shopfronts north of the porch feature a 3-light window and a 2-light window respectively. The second storey has six bays with seven pilasters, the added north bay being wider, with capitals coinciding with the third storey floor-string. Two nearly flush 12-pane sashes in eared architraves sit south of the entrance bay, and three similar sashes sit north. The entrance bay contains a shorter sash of 12 square panes in place of the former front door. Before the north bay was added, the front was symmetrical with a pair of quadrant external stairs to the entrance. The third storey has seven pilasters and six tall nearly flush 18-pane sashes. A bold cornice on painted stone brackets crowns this façade.

The south side shows the lowest storey rendered with brown brickwork above. A blocked doorway with stone step is visible. The second storey has a flush 12-pane unequal sash; the half-landing between the second and third storeys contains an 8-18-8 pane Palladian window in a stone case. Flush sandstone quoins mark the south-west corner, with a sandstone plinth and flush bands applied to part of the south wall. The cornice matches that of the front elevation.

The rear elevation best displays the character of a substantial late 17th-century town house, presenting a symmetrical elevation of two storeys. The ground level sits one storey above the front pavement level, flanked by flush quoins at both former corners. Five nearly flush sashes with gauged brick heads light the lower storey, and five tall 18-pane sashes light the upper storey. The cornice matches the front. The added northern bay features a matching sixth sash to each storey and a lean-to roof with plain flush verge. The north side is built against.

The interior retains significant late 17th-century features. The entrance bay contains an inserted stair in a plaster-panelled well serving the second-storey stair-hall. Bolection-panelled doors, now blocked, sit in each side wall above the stair, formerly providing access to the south and north front rooms. Good panelled doors in panelled cases, probably of oak, serve the major rooms. The front rooms feature dado rails and panelling, probably of oak though now painted, with shuttered embrasures and cornices. The assembly room to the rear, the former garden front, displays piers and beams marking the position of former folding doors. The south part contains oak panelling—one row beneath a dado rail and a tall row above—with a marble fireplace and oak overmantel against the south wall. The fireplace features panelled pilasters and frieze, centred with a cartouche depicting two foxes rampant on a shield; the overmantel displays swags and a Liver-bird cartouche. The north part has panelled dado, a marble fireplace against the north wall in an oak surround and a moulded plaster ceiling of three panels with cornices. All panels are fielded with bolection moulds. The stair hall has panelled dado, plaster panels above the stair dado and oak panels to the hall. The oak open-well closed-string stair features square newels, two massive vase balusters per step and moulded oak rail. The Palladian stair window has Ionic columns and entablatures to the side-lights. The third storey landing is panelled with an incorrectly executed triglyph frieze and dentil cornice. The rear room has a probably Regency fireplace against the south wall and an 18th-century fireplace against the north wall, with shuttered embrasures and dentil cornice. The front rooms have panelled dados, panelled embrasures and moulded cornices.

Historical records show that an engraving by Batenham, drawn around 1816, depicts the pair of external stairs of 1678, with the first storey expressed as a stone or rendered plinth, the front presented as five bays in symmetrical arrangement, and the second and third storeys showing plain pilasters and brick face with stone floorbands and gauged brick heads. Two hipped front-roof gables are visible in this view. The Ordnance Survey 1:500 plan surveyed in 1872 shows the present sixth bay as already added, but also retains the depiction of the external stairs and shows no projecting shops, confirming the date of the shopfront additions to the late 19th century.