Chequer House

BURY ST EDMUNDS

TL8564SE CHEQUER SQUARE 639-1/8/230 (West side) 07/08/52 No.4 Chequer House

GV II

House, now divided into flats with a shop on part of the first storey. Early C19 with core of c1700. White brick; slate roof with parapet and cornice. EXTERIOR: 3 storeys and cellars, which also run below No.5 (not included). 5 window range, arranged 2:1:2 with the centre breaking forward slightly. The first storey windows extend to floor level and are set into semicircular-headed recesses with stucco impost bands. All windows are 12-pane sashes with flat gauged heads and deep reveals. A cast-iron balcony with ornate railings runs across the whole first storey front. The central doorway has a 6-panelled double door with circular middle panels and a fanlight with ornamental glazing which is set into a shallow double-arched recess with plain stucco impost bands. A late C19 2-storey rear extension in white brick with slate roof. INTERIOR: the cellar, divided into 3 sections, is mainly lined with old bricks; some flint rubble along the front wall. Reused ceiling-beams, some with C16 mouldings. The outstanding feature of the interior is the fine late C17/early C18 open well stair with heavy barley-sugar twist balusters, plain moulded handrail, square newel posts, moulded closed strings and panelled dado. It rises the whole height of the house and terminates in a balustrade across the landing of the top storey. The panels of the dado were mainly replaced in the early C19, but several sections with bolection-moulded surrounds survive, and on the 1st storey the 6-panel doors have bolection-moulding to the architraves. This building stands on the site of the former Chequer Inn. (BOE: Pevsner N: Radcliffe E: Suffolk: London: 1974-: 150-151).

Listing NGR: TL8553064048