3, Stanley Street

This is a three-storey town house, now used as offices, built in 1781. It is located in Chester City and has a complex construction with different brick bonds visible on its front and side elevations. The front facing Stanley Place presents a symmetrical facade constructed of red-brown brick in an English garden wall bond pattern facing Stanley Street and a Flemish bond pattern facing Stanley Place. The roof is slate, hipped to the Stanley Place side.

The main front has a probable later porch with square and quarter pilasters topped by an entablature, concealing a pair of double doors with six sunk fielded panels on each leaf and a stone step. Above the porch is a flush stair window with six panes in the lower section and nine in the shaped upper section, set within a round-arched brick opening. Recessed twelve-pane sash windows are positioned on either side of the porch on all floors; the upper floor features five nine-pane recessed sashes. Stone sills and wedge lintels are present throughout, capped by a moulded cornice.

A two-storey north wing, a separate build, features a plain plinth and has had modern six-pane hopper windows added to its lower floor. It also contains a stair window reminiscent of the one above the porch, along with further recessed sash windows and a hopper window on the upper floor. An arched stair window mirrors the one above the porch on the front. The north wing's gable end has a recessed twelve-pane sash window to the second storey, while the western face has been altered and extended.

The interior of the house displays several notable features. The hall has a substantial architrave around the door to the south room and stone steps leading to the cellars. A five-panel door leads to the north room, and a modillion cornice adorns the ceiling. The south room contains a six-panel door (partially concealed), panelled shutters, cupboards flanking the chimney breast, and a plastered frieze and cornice. A grand principal staircase, with open strings, shaped brackets, a swept handrail, and turned newel posts, rises over four main flights with 3 steps between landings. A secondary, simpler staircase in the north wing has turned newels and a swept handrail. The second-floor south room has a five-panel door, panelled shutters, a fireplace surround with Tuscan columns, and a plastered frieze and cornice. The first room of the north wing retains a nineteenth-century cast-iron fireplace with a restrained Gothic surround, while the second room features a cornice. The third floor has doors with four fielded panels. The north wing’s lower storey has been largely refaced.