Building record 10733 - Townhouse and cottage at No 12 & 12a White Friars

<1> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 470480; 470481 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

No 12 and 12a White Friars consists of a narrow frontage town house of three storeys (No 12) with wing to the east (No 12a). Both were largely rebuilt at the start of the 19th century with further alteration at No 12a in 1884. The cellars below are probably medieval.

No 12 is of brown Flemish bond brick with a grey slate roof and a ridge parallel to the street. The cellar has walls of toole coursed sandstone with some 18th century brickwork above and internal partitions of a similar date. No 12a, known as White Friars Cottage, formed the east wing of the main house and although there are cellars below, they appear to be mainly 18th century in date.

<2> Henderson Heritage, 2023, Heritage Impact Assessment: No. 12 White Friars, Chester, R4775 (Client Report). SCH9610.

No. 12 White Friars was erected circa 1800 as a townhouse. Internally it has some good surviving original and later features, including the staircase, built in ledger cupboards, a strong room, internal decorative features, medieval cellars, and later brick barrel vaults, and some architraves, fireplaces, and doors. The building’s external character is early century with a shallow bow window to ground floor. It has a restrained, façade of the upper floors and a more exuberant frontage to ground floor. The building was erected at a time of economic growth as a regional capital in the area, used also by the upper classes as during the middle of the Georgian period, which was influenced by architects such as Thomas Harrison, who erected Northgate to the north of the street in 1810. White Friars dates from medieval times, but its character is described as a Georgian street. The building forms part of the backdrop of decorative and restrained facades on White Friars, forming part of the wider townscape character of the city centre. Its significance is derived from its Georgian and early Victorian architectural vocabulary.