Listed Building: COMMERCIAL HOTEL AND ATTACHED WALL AND ST PETERS FINE ART GALLERY (1376388)

CHESTER CITY (IM) SJ4066SE ST PETER'S CHURCHYARD 595-1/4/347 Commercial Hotel & attached wall & 18/08/71 St Peter's Fine Art Gallery (Formerly Listed as: EASTGATE STREET (North side) The Commercial Hotel & building adjoining to S of hotel) GV II Hotel and art gallery. c1807. Brown brick in Flemish bond to front and part of south wing; grey slate roofs. EXTERIOR: 3 storeys; symmetrical double-fronted main block. Painted sandstone plinth; recessed door of 6 flush panels with simple overlight in painted stone case with moulded architrave, frieze and cornice; flat gauged brick arches and painted stone sills to recessed sashes, one of 12 panes to each side of door, 3 of 15 panes to second storey and 3 of 12 panes to third storey; cornice; flush chimney at each end of main block; cast-iron rainwater head and pipe at north end of the front; the south west corner of the main block roof is hipped, all other roofs are gabled. The south end of the main block has a door of 4 glazed panels above 2 flush panels; each upper storey has a recessed 12-pane sash with gauged-brick flat arch and painted stone sill; lead rainwater head and upper part of pipe at south-west corner. The high brick wall attached to the north-east corner of the hotel links it to the City Club, No.1 Northgate Street (qv), closing the north end of St Peter's Churchyard. A recessed south wing, the first storey occupied by an art gallery, is early C19 with a later recessed extension; the earlier part perhaps of 2 builds is brown brick in Flemish bond; the later part painted stretcher bond; the windows have painted stone sills, some replaced in wood, and cambered brick heads; the first storey has a replaced flush tripartite 2;2;2 pane horned sash, a replaced 6-panel door in a probably replaced doorcase with frieze and cornice and a full-width bay window of three rows of 9 panes, abutting the older part north and with a quadrant south end, a panelled painted plaster plinth, a medallion cornice and a flat roof; the second storey has a brick band of one projecting course above a brick-on-edge course laid diagonally, a nearly flush 4;12;4 pane tripartite sash and a 12-pane sash; the third storey has a 9-pane sash, a tripartite 3;9;3 pane sash and a 12 pane sash which projects above the eaves; cast-iron rainwater pipes. The rear has a part-glazed framed and boarded door in a plain wooden case with a replaced window to each side; the first storey of the projecting south wing is concealed; the second storey has an altered tripartite sash, north, two 12-pane sashes and a small inserted 2-pane sash, plus a nearly flush 12-pane sash in the south wing; the third storey has two 9-pane sashes, a small inserted window, a 9-pane sash, a small inserted window and, in the south wing, a nearly flush 12-pane sash. INTERIOR: retains the domestic plan of an early C19 public house. (History of the City Club, Chester: Chester: 1800-). Listing NGR: SJ4050266308