St Oswalds Chambers

St Oswalds Chambers, located on St Werburgh Street in Chester, is a building dating from 1898, designed by architect John Douglas, who likely also developed it. Originally built as offices, it now serves as opticians. The structure is made of squared snecked red sandstone rubble, timber frame with plaster panels, and red Ruabon brick, topped with a hipped Westmorland green slate roof. It is almost detached.

The building stands two storeys high and has a double-fronted, asymmetric design. The front features a shaped 9-panel door, now glazed, set within a basket archway with colonnettes. The date 1898 is inscribed in the spandrels, along with the name "Saint Oswald Chambers" above the entrance. To the north, there is a 4-light leaded ovolo-mullioned casement, while the south side has a shop window with leaded glazing set in a stallriser. The timber-framed second storey includes a 4-light mullioned and transomed leaded casement to the north, with patterned leading in the upper lights beneath a carved lintel. Above the doorway, there is a similar 3-light window. A casement with three groups of three lights wraps around the south-west corner, above small framing with cusped-arch heads. Dormer gables with richly carved bargeboards are positioned over the north and central casements, and a short octagonal spire with a weathervane on a lead finial is located above the south-west window.

The north side features a 3-light mullioned and leaded casement, along with three 4-light mullioned and transomed casements on the first storey, and a similar arrangement on the second storey, although the leading has been removed. The south side has a 2-light casement and a 1-light casement at the canted south-east corner, with the second storey featuring a casement that also has the leading removed. The rear wing, built of brick on the lower storey and framed above, includes two casements on each storey, with some leaded glazing. The building is topped with three shaped brick chimneys.

The interior has undergone some alterations and has covered surfaces, but it retains certain features, including doors.