Listed Building: NUMBER 53 AND 55 STREET FOLLIOTT HOUSE (1376354)

CHESTER CITY (IM) SJ4066NW NORTHGATE STREET AND ROW 595-1/1/293 (West side) 10/01/72 Nos.53 & 55 Street (Folliott House) (Formerly Listed as: EASTGATE STREET Nos.53 AND 55 Ffolliot House) GV II Town house, now offices. 1788, altered. For James Folliott. Brick, painted to Northgate Street and south side; grey slate roof. EXTERIOR: 3 storeys. Painted stone plinth; painted stone sills; gauged brick window heads; sashes are recessed. The face to Northgate Street has 2 sashes to each storey, of 12 panes to the first and second storey and 6 panes to the third storey; a moulded parapet cornice. The south face, to a narrow alley, contains the entrances: the first storey has 2 replaced 2-pane sashes, a door of 5 fielded panels with a simple horseshoe-shaped radial-bar fanlight above, a tripartite sash of 4;12;4 panes, 3 apron steps of stone to a door of 6 fielded panels with a reeded middle stile and a cast-iron radial-bar overlight in a pedimented painted stone doorcase with sidelights, 2 small replaced casements and a sash opening blocked in brick; the second storey has a replaced 2-pane sash, a tripartite sash of 4;12;4 panes and a 12-pane sash; the third storey has three 6-pane sashes; there is a Georgian rainwater head and old down-pipe. The rear has two 12-pane sashes to each of the lower 2 storeys and 2 smaller 20-pane cross windows in reduced openings to the third storey; a flush gable. INTERIOR: deep full-length cellars include a substantial cast-iron range, probably late C19, "The Heald" model, and a wine cellar with bins. The first storey rear room is sub-divided but retains sub-panels and shutters to windows, some panelling below partly-removed dado-rail, a painted wood fireplace with fluted pilasters and a Liver-bird with swags and a plaster ceiling cornice; east of the entrance hall a broad archway of timber with panelled jambs is partly covered; the middle room has sub-panels and shutters to the triple sash; the front room is divided, with false ceilings and detail covered. The substantial open-well stair has open strings with brackets, turned vase newels, 2 turned balusters per step and curved landings against the south wall; a full-height corner-post, in keeping, is late 1980s. In the second storey the rear room has panelling to the dado rail, shutters to sashes, a plain white marble fireplace and a plaster cornice; the middle room has sub-panels to the triple sash, a simple wood fire surround, a simple plaster cornice and, now blocked but visible from the inserted lavatories adjoining, double 3-panel doors; the front room has sub-panels and shutters to windows, a replaced fireplace and a simple plaster cornice. The third storey rear room has double 2-panel cupboard doors. Surfaces, where visible, are softwood. The house is narrow and deep. The principal room of each storey is to the rear, overlooking a now lost garden. A blocked 6-panel door in the east wall of the second storey rear room suggests that the stair has been reversed; most doors have been replaced. Listing NGR: SJ4042666580