Old Bishop's Palace, Chester
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Old Palace Chester is located in an elevated position overlooking The Groves and the River Dee in
Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...
,
Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...
, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.


History

Building of the palace began before 1745, and it was completed in 1751. It was built for Samuel Peploe, Bishop of Chester. The palace was substantially expanded in the 18th century, and altered again in the 19th century but, apart from the main door, its external appearance has been virtually unchanged since the 18th century. It became the official residence of the bishops of Chester in 1865, and continued to be used for this purpose until the 1920s. It then was converted for use as a YMCA hostel, and retained this purpose until the early 1980s, when it was further converted into commercial offices.


Architecture

The palace is constructed in red brick with stone dressings and has grey
slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
roofs. It is in three storeys plus cellars, and has a hipped roof. The front of the main block facing the river has eleven
bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...
with rusticated quoins at the corners. The fourth to sixth bays form a
canted Cant, CANT, canting, or canted may refer to: Language * Cant (language), a secret language * Beurla Reagaird, a language of the Scottish Highland Travellers * Scottish Cant, a language of the Scottish Lowland Travellers * Shelta or the Cant, a lan ...
projection rising through the three storeys containing the entrance door in the ground floor. All the other bays in each storey contain a
sash window A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned window (architecture), paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double gla ...
. Between the ground and first floors is a stone band. Above the upper storey is a stone
cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...
and a brick coped parapet. There is a one-bay wing at the right end of the building. In the wing and on the sides of the building are more sash windows. The interior contains an open-well staircase with six flights and turned
baluster A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its cons ...
s; the balustrade has replaced a former
Chinese Chippendale Thomas Chippendale (1718–1779) was a cabinet-maker in London, designing furniture in the mid-Georgian, English Rococo, and Neoclassical styles. In 1754 he published a book of his designs in a trade catalogue titled ''The Gentleman and Cab ...
balustrade. On the first floor is a large room with an 18th-century decorated ceiling.


See also

* Grade II* listed buildings in Cheshire West and Chester


References

3.More info on Old Palace Chester History https://oldpalacechester.co.uk/about/{{DEFAULTSORT:Old Bishop's Palace, Chester Houses completed in 1751 Buildings and structures in Chester Grade II* listed buildings in Chester Grade II* listed houses Georgian architecture in Cheshire Episcopal palaces in England Houses in Chester 1751 establishments in England