Listed Building: 10-18, FOREGATE STREET (1375797)

CHESTER CITY (EM) SJ4066 FOREGATE STREET 1932-1/6/102 (South side) 24/09/90 Nos.10-18 (Even) GV II Bank and shop. The west part 1896 by TM Lockwood, the east part 1911 by WT Lockwood for National Provincial Bank of England, now National Westminster Bank. Buff sandstone and timber frame with plaster panels; grey slate roofs. EXTERIOR: the west part of the front to Foregate Street and the face to St John's Street have 3 storeys plus attics, the east part has 2 storeys and attic. The whole of the ground storey and the entrance bay to Foregate Street are of stone in the Classical manner of a C17 country builder; all other parts of the upper storeys are timber-framed in late C16-early C17 style with close studding, shaped panel-tops and some shaped panels and herringbone braces. Front to Foregate Street. The first storey has a canted doorway at the corner with St John's Street with panelled double doors, a wood case and a concave ceramic overpanel inscribed "NATIONAL PROVINCIAL BANK OF ENGLAND" in raised capitals; moulded plinth; the banking hall has 5 hardwood windows, each with a large lower pane, a transom and 2 upper panes, the west window has a shouldered architrave, the others are in 2 pairs with Ionic pilasters and cornice; further east a slightly recessed bay has two 1-pane windows in shouldered architraves; next, an entrance bay, the doors replaced in a round-arched opening with shouldered architrave and projecting keystone carrying a blank panel between 2 putti; east of the entrance bay the ground storey is plainer, having a panel with the raised shield of the National Provincial Bank, an altered window and a camber-arched doorway with shouldered architrave, triple keystone and broken pediment; the shopfront to No.18 is of C20 date. The second storey has, above the banking hall, 2 shallow canted 5-light partly-leaded oriels with moulded mullions and 2 transoms; the recessed bay has a 3-light mullioned and transomed casement; the entrance bay has a stone mullioned and transomed casement with moulded sill and curved broken pediment: 2 large 4-light mullioned windows east of the entrance bay have 2 transoms and leaded glazing; a canted 6-light oriel over the shop has 2 transoms and leaded glazing, with a 1-light transomed window west and a similar 3-light window, east. The third storey, above the banking hall, jettied on ornate brackets, has 2 canted 5-light oriels; the recessed bay has a flat-roofed 3-light mullioned and transomed leaded dormer; the stone entrance bay has a putto cartouche beneath a 4-light mullioned and transomed leaded casement with moulded sill and curved broken pediment beneath a moulded semicircular gable, dated 1911 in a carved wreath. East of the entrance bay are 2 flat-roofed 4-light leaded dormers. The attic storey above the banking hall has 2 jettied gables, each with a 4-light leaded casement and a small cock-loft window; ornamented bargeboards; red brick chimneys. West face to St John's Street has 5 windows to the first storey, arranged and detailed as those to the banking hall. A stone-dressed red-brick lateral chimney with blue diapering dated 1896 stops the return of the front to Foregate Street which has a 2-light partly-leaded window with 2 transoms, to the second storey. South of the chimney the second storey has a 3-light partly-leaded window with 2 transoms and a 4-light canted oriel with 2 transoms and some leaded glazing; third storey has a 3-light leaded casement and a 4-light mullioned and transomed oriel, with a jettied gable above. INTERIOR: modern linings hide any features in the publicly accessible parts of the premises. This item is on the visually important south-east corner of Foregate Street and St John's Street and closes the south view from Frodsham Street, forming the terminus of the Vernacular Revival frontages in the city centre. (Chester City Council and Committee: Improvement Committee Minutes: 29.5.1895 & 1.6.1910; The Buildings of England: Pevsner N & Hubbard E: Harmondsworth: 1971-: 165). Listing NGR: SJ4076166340