Chester House

WORCESTER

SO8455NE BRITANNIA SQUARE 620-1/8/96 (North side) 22/5/54 No.39 Chester House

GV II

Villa. c1820 with later additions and alterations. Painted stucco over brick with hipped slate roof, rebuilt end stacks (2 per end) with string course and pots. Parapet gutter to facade. Cast-iron verandah with glass roof. Central hallway, double-depth plan. 2 storeys. 3 first-floor windows. Stucco detailing includes plinth, full-height Doric-style pilasters to ends and between windows; first-floor band; frieze, cornice and blocking course. Outer bays have 8/8 sashes, centre first-floor 6/6 with margin-lights of coloured glass. Ground-floor are tall 8/12; all in plain reveals with sills. Entrance door is renewed 4-panel; fanlight with radial glazing bars; tooled architrave. Flat-topped gables with coping and casement window to attic. Verandah with scrolled uprights. Later C19 lean-to conservatory at right. INTERIOR: retains some original features including shutters, narrow open-well staircase with stick balusters and wreathed handrail; plasterwork to hall has decorative frieze including modillions with anthemion design. A similar design to No.38 (qv).

All the listed buildings in Britannia Square (qv) form a unified group, started in 1820 and planned around a large green in which the main house is placed ('Springfield', qv). Compares with similar, although smaller, developments in Worcester such as Lansdowne Crescent, Lark Hill, and Rainbow Hill Terrace (qqv). (Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Worcestershire: Harmondsworth: 1968-1985: 334).