Number 35 Street

A terrace of bank, shops and offices constructed between 1895 and 1897 by John Douglas, who served as both architect and developer. The building occupies a prominent location adjacent to Chester Cathedral. Constructed primarily of yellow sandstone, some timber framing was incorporated at the request of the first Duke of Westminster. The roof is covered with green Westmorland slate, with decorative ridge chimneys, some spirally moulded. The external appearance comprises three storeys plus a part attic. One bay fronts onto Eastgate Street, while nine bays face St Werburgh Street.

The bank, incorporating numbers 35 Street (Eastgate Street) and numbers 2 and 4 St Werburgh Street, features a stone first storey set on a polished granite plinth. The street corner reveals double doors within a moulded basket arch, ornamented with a corbelled head featuring three cusped ogee arches dated 1897. An elaborate 4-light mullioned and transomed window with carved spandrels and shields is located on Eastgate Street, followed by a 3-panel oak secondary door to St Werburgh Street, displaying a shield depicting a grasshopper and an eagle with an olive leaf. The seven shopfronts along St Werburgh Street possess sandstone piers; number 8 retains a likely original carved stall-riser. The second storey is characterised by small-framed windows, each equipped with mullions, transoms, and leaded glazing. This level includes a 5-light oriel on Eastgate Street, and a 4-light corner oriel supported by a stone corbel, with variations in casement design along St Werburgh Street, incorporating several oriels. Detailed decorative treatment is applied to every main framing element, including ten saints positioned within niches. Numbers 6 and 8 St Werburgh Street are executed in a Jacobean Ionic style. The third storey is jettied, with mullioned windows displaying varied designs between bays, including a broad shallow oriel on number 4 St Werburgh Street and a large, jettied tourelle oriel at the corner of number 18. The elevations include a gable to Eastgate Street, four dormer gables, six full gables, and a dormer gable to St Werburgh Street, culminating in an octagonal spire with a weather vane on a lead finial above the tourelle.

The attic roof, set back over numbers 2 and 4 St Werburgh Street, features leaded casements beneath a continuous dormer roof. Interior features, though not systematically inspected, retain some original details. Douglas’s involvement as both architect and developer ensured the design was appropriate for the site.