Listed Building: 9, KING STREET (1376272)

CHESTER CITY (IM) SJ4066NW KING STREET 595-1/1/205 (South side) 10/01/72 No.9 GV II A broad-fronted town house incorporating a narrower late C17 or early C18 house; dated 1783, altered. Lined render; grey slate roof. EXTERIOR: cellars and 3 storeys. Painted stone plinth; central doorway altered early C20 has door of 6 fielded panels with leaded overlight and sidelights of obscured glass with a fielded panel beneath each sidelight, in a panelled case with incised pattern on the face of each pilaster and hood with moulded frieze and cornice; a broad 16-pane recessed sash with exposed boxes and fascia to each side of door; a secondary door of two 3-board panels and 6-pane overlight, east, and double doors of 3 flush panels with 8-pane overlight, west. A plain band at second storey floor: 5 recessed 12-pane sashes with exposed boxes and fascias; 3 shorter windows of 6 panes to third storey; lead rainwater head and pipe, west, inscribed E: TM: 1783; moulded cornice. The rear of brown brick projects in 3 successive stages from the east: the east portion has a lean-to roof, with an added glasshouse against the lower storey, 2 nearly flush 12-pane sashes to the second storey and, above the lean-to roof, a small 6-pane window to the attic; the middle portion, under a catslide roof, has 12 panes above a fielded cross panel, a nearly flush tripartite sash of 4:12:4 panes to the second storey and a stone-coped parapet; the west bay has canted corners, 2 recessed 12-pane sashes to the first storey, 2 tall recessed 15-pane sashes to the second storey and a stone-capped parapet; 3 chimneys on the rear roof-slope. INTERIOR: the central entrance with stair-hall behind has front and back room to each side flanked by the narrow hall of each secondary entrance. Rooms east of the entrance have late C17 and early C18 elements; the hall, stair and west rooms are largely late C18, but front sashes may be earlier. The cellar has concreted floor, bedrock at the base of the rear wall and walls of random rubble and coursed sandstone and later brick-work with evidence of a former direct access from the street; 2 chamfered beams and a lintel of oak, probably re-used; stone steps from lobby east of stair hall. The hall has 4-leaf folding screen with Chinois patterned panels and a looped radial-bar fanlight of wood in a basket-arched opening to the stair. The west front room has a door of 6 margined panels in a case with broad architraves; the sash, as in other front rooms, has thickish parallel-sided glazing bars with pronounced mouldings; base panel to embrasure and panelled shutters, each with a narrow leaf folding against the jamb and a broad leaf against the wall; chimney breast against west wall: 2-tier cupboard with fielded panels to upper double doors; a plaster-skimmed tongue-stopped chamfered beam running backward; cornice. The west rear room has a 6-panel door, 2 embrasures with base panels and panelled shutters, a chimney-breast against the west wall and a cornice. The secondary hall, far west, has a boxed inner porch with door of 5 panels having reeded stiles, rails and muntin and a back door of 6 fielded panels. The east front room has a splayed embrasure, a stop-chamfered bressumer to the former inglenook against the west wall and a tongue-stopped chamfered oak beam running backward; the base is visible to the corner flue to the rooms above. The rear east room, now the kitchen, has no visible features of interest. The secondary hall, far east, has old gudgeon hinges and door furniture of iron. The stair hall has a door of 6 flush panels to the kitchen, cellar door of 3 ledges on 5 plain braces, panelling beneath the open-well open-string stair with shaped brackets, curtail step and swept rail probably of oak on 2 stick balusters per step. The second storey landing has 6-panel doors and a moulded cornice; the rear east room, now bathroom and WC, is from the quarter-landing 4 steps down, and the front rooms via a short passage and 3 steps down. The bathroom and WC have doors of 12 and 6 panels probably remade from C17 elements. The front west room has a door of 5 fielded panels on L hinges, a replaced fireplace, west and a ceiling of 3 panels with 2 flat rectangular beams and moulded cornices. The front east room has door of 5 fielded panels, a late Georgian cast-iron fireplace in a corner breast and 2 tongue-stopped chamfered beams. The third storey reached by a plain stair under a short-span roof has 3-board doors to west and east rooms, panelled on inner faces in 2 rows of 3 panels, the east door having 4 moulded braces. The roof has purlins, one unwrought and a cross-wall with evidence of a former steeper roof with lower ridge. The probable sequence of development is east wing 1720 or earlier; front portion of west wing mid C18 or earlier; stair and rear west wing 1783 or later. Listing NGR: SJ4037766574