3, Abbey Square

This is a three-storey town house, likely constructed between 1771 and 1772 for Samuel Hostage, who held a lease from the Dean and Chapter. It is located in Abbey Square, Chester.

The exterior is characterised by a Flemish bond brick facade with pale brick headers, and a grey slate roof pitched more steeply than the adjacent properties. A painted stone plinth supports a front entrance with two stone steps leading up to a six-panel door featuring a radial-bar fanlight enclosed within a Roman Doric timber surround with fluted pilasters and a pediment. Two sash windows are present on each storey; the windows are now set in four panes. Painted stone sills are visible on the first and third storeys, with a sill band on the second. Each window is topped with a painted, rusticated wedge lintel incorporating a false keystone. A moulded painted stone cornice runs along the top of the building, above which is a brick parapet with stone coping. A single chimney is visible. The rear of the building overlooks a small yard towards the buildings on the east side of Northgate Street.

The cellar contains a two-panel door, a staircase with a 17th-century style newel and rail, quarry tile flooring, and brick walls. Brick wine bins are also present. A lower cellar lies beneath the main cellar, accessed by three stone steps down from the east wall. This lower cellar is situated under the pavement of Abbey Square and features coursed sandstone walls beneath a possible 18th-century segmental barrel vault of brick, thought to have been an ecclesiastical court cell.

The front room on the first storey features broad paneling beneath a dado rail, an eared fire surround with carved wood, a festoon frieze, and a decorated cornice. A six-panel door is set within an eared architrave, alongside panelled shutters and a plaster cornice. A round archway with fluted pilasters is situated in the stair hall. The south rear room contains a probable Georgian range of cupboards, a panelled dado, and a fire surround with an eared architrave and a six-panel door with HL hinges. The north rear room incorporates a late Georgian fire surround within a previously wider opening, with a cambered oak bressumer resting on sandstone piers displaying lambs tongue stops to the chamfer. A two-tier corner cupboard has fielded panels and old hinges. The open-string staircase possesses a curtail step, a rose, three column-on-vase balusters per step, a moulded swept rail, and a panelled dado with bolection panels above. The front room on the second storey features a six-panel door, panelled embrasures with eared architraves, a fire surround with an eared architrave and modillion cornice. The rear south room has a four-panel door with HL hinges, a simple eared fire surround, and a basket-arched alcove. The landing overlooking the stairwell has a Chinese balustrade. The narrow staircase to the third storey is offset and includes winders. The third-storey rooms contain two-panel doors and a simple eared fire surround. A narrow attic staircase, similar to that serving the third storey, leads to an attic door.