Grosvenor Museum

The Grosvenor Museum is a museum building of 1885, designed by T.M. Lockwood and funded by the first Duke of Westminster. It is constructed of Ruabon red brick with stone dressings and a steeply pitched red-tile roof.

The exterior displays an opulent architectural style. The ground floor features a plinth with a band, and two basement windows are located to the east and west of the entrance. The round-arched entrance is centrally located, with three stone steps leading to wrought-iron gates, followed by four steps to glazed double doors and a screen. The elaborate doorcase incorporates composite pillars, with the pillar to the west inscribed “THIS STONE WAS LAID BY THE DUKE OF WESTMINSTER FEBRUARY 3RD 1885”. It has ornate moulded voussoirs, a key stone with a Muse in each spandrel – one with a palette and the other with a globe and compasses – and a frieze displaying the Grosvenor and Chester City arms and the date 1885. There are three cross-windows to the west of the entrance and two transomed single-light windows to the east. A stringcourse runs above the lintels. The second floor has a dentilled floor string, with three cross-windows west of the entrance, three separate rectangular lights above the doorcase, and two transomed single-light windows to the east; another stringcourse supports composite pilasters. The third floor has three cross-windows, and a single window is positioned within a projecting panel on an ornate corbelled plinth, with two double-transom single-light windows to the east. A corner oriel is supported by decorative stone corbels, and there is a swag frieze and dentilled cornice. Necked gables are situated above the entrance bay and the central window of the west wing, each bearing a stone eagle about to take flight. The oriel terminates in a tourelle with a cupola roof, characteristic of Lockwood’s style. The very steep hipped roof, extending to the height of two storeys, incorporates one lucarne in the lower storey, two in the upper storey, a short ridge with finials, and an octagonal lantern cupola.

The interior features a round archway supported by polished granite columns, with smaller arches on corbels to each side, leading to a circular stair-hall with a mosaic floor featuring an armorial centrepiece and a mosaic dado. A raked lecture theatre to the west has a three-panel ceiling with cross-beams on consoles and dentil cornices. The gallery to the east has a moulded frieze and dentil cornice to a coved ceiling. A lobby behind the stair-hall connects to the Georgian House at No. 20 Castle Street. An ornate fireplace and overmantel, carved window arrises, and cornice are found in the east room. A geometrical stone stair with a mosaic dado rises in four flights to the second and third storeys. A half-drum above the stair has pilasters supporting arched radial trusses beneath a rooflight.