White Windows, Cheshire Home

House, now Cheshire Home. Built in 1768 by the architect John Carr for John Priestley, with probably earlier ranges incorporated. The building is constructed of coursed squared stone with ashlar to the entrance front, with a stone slate roof.

The main structure consists of two and a half storeys over a basement, arranged in seven bays. Two possibly earlier wings are set to the rear left, and a further earlier wing projects at right angles from the left return, set back and at a higher level than the main front due to the slope of the ground.

The main south-east front presents a symmetrical facade. A plinth runs along the base above a rusticated basement. Rusticated quoins rise through the facade as panelled pilasters on the top floor. Ground-floor and moulded first and second-floor cornices articulate the storeys. A double flight of steps with an iron handrail featuring wavy and decoratively scrolled balusters leads up to the main floor. A 20th-century door masks the original rusticated doorway beneath. The principal entrance comprises a double-door with overlight and architrave set in a surround with pulvinated frieze, cornice and swan-neck pediment.

Basement windows are fixed six-pane lights set under lintels incised as flat arches. Other windows have moulded architraves. The ground and first floors have sashes with glazing bars, while the second floor contains six-pane sashes and 20th-century casements. The hipped roof is topped by four central corniced chimney stacks linked by a balustrade. A 20th-century single-storey addition extends from the left, not of special interest.

The rear elevation features a Venetian stair window with keyed plain stone surround and thick glazing bars. Moulded gutter brackets are present. On the right, paired gabled wings project, each with quoins, flat-faced mullion windows and a doorway with tie-stone jambs. A circa 1980 addition projecting from the left is not of special interest. The right return comprises five bays with rusticated quoins, plain bands and a moulded cornice. Windows to the ground and first floors are sashes with glazing bars, set in raised plain surrounds. The left return follows the form of the right return on its main block, though the ground floor is masked by a 20th-century glass lean-to of no special interest. An earlier range projects on the left, featuring quoins; a five-light flat-faced mullion window to the first floor has recessed mullions.

Internally, the entrance hall retains remains of a moulded cornice soffit and a date incised inside the front door. The front left room contains an elaborate fireplace with floral frieze and over-mantel, moulded panels and cornice. The front right room features a floral-decorated dentil cornice.

The main stair is dog-leg and cantilevered with an open-string, its balustrade matching that of the front steps but incorporating intermediate floral-decorated scrolled balusters. The newel is of gun-barrel form and the handrail is moulded. The stair window displays Ionic columns and an elaborate cornice; the central light is crowned by the Priestley coat of arms flanked by festoons. The first floor stair hall retains moulded panels and cornice. The full-height back stairs are dog-leg and open-string with turned balusters and ramped handrail, partly replaced.

John Priestley purchased the estate in 1765 and built the new house between 1767 and 1768. The stair hall and both stairs are almost identical to those at Haugh End House, also designed by Carr for John Lea, Priestley's father-in-law. John's son Joseph served as a Justice of the Peace, and the room now used as a shop formerly served as the Justices Room. The name John is incised in the glass of one of the windows.