Stanley Palace

This is a substantial town house, originally built in 1591 for Sir Peter Warburton, and subsequently associated with the Stanley family of Alderley. Parts of the building were later demolished, with the southwest wing rebuilt in the early 18th century and the north wing reconstructed in 1935. The construction materials are ashlar sandstone for the plinth, timber framing with plaster panels, brick, and a slate roof.

The exterior is now U-shaped. The east front features four gables, with the northernmost being a reconstruction. A replaced twelve-panel oak door and two-light mullioned window are located in the south bay, with a similar one-light window in the third bay, and a five-light window within the second and fourth bays. Narrow, full-height panels are situated between the openings of the lower storey; a moulded jetty bressumer decorates the three southern bays. The first-floor windows are mullioned and transomed, each with five lights and three arched, decorated panels beneath. Four terms are positioned between the windows, and four Atlantes are located beneath the second window. All glazing is leaded, with quadrant-braced panels between windows. The building has replaced jettied moulded tie-beams and a wavy herringbone strut in the gable. A brick section, likely from the 18th century, forms the south end, while the north wing exhibits simplified timber framing from its 1935 rebuilding.

The hall contains square cross-beams halved over two chamfered main beams. A large recess to the rear has cased posts, a main beam, and an ingle-nook to the right, with a bressumer carrying brackets to the main beam. An entrance opens to what was formerly a screens passage. A pair of oak doors lead to the Queen Anne Room in the southwest wing; these doors consist of three fielded bolection-moulded panels. The Queen Anne Room retains early 18th-century panelling within an earlier structure, featuring one row beneath the dado and one tall row above. It has a repaired panelled overmantel. Two plainly chamfered main beams separate three plaster ceiling panels, each displaying the Stanley of Alderley arms on a raised shield, accompanied by a motto. A rose is present in each corner of each panel and on the upper oak panel of the overmantel.

The oak stair has a closed string, square newels, two spiral-moulded balusters per step, and a heavy moulded rail. A panelled cupboard is inserted beneath the stairs. The gallery features a framed partition north of the stair-head, with two intermediate rails and vase posts between the lower panels; the walls are panelled, and there are cased beams. The room above the Queen Anne Room also has early 18th-century panelling, mirroring the style of the Queen Anne Room. The rebuilt north wing contains no features of particular architectural interest.