CREATING THE CHESTER LOOK:

Eastgate Street - South Side

Chester’s modern streets are littered with numerous buildings that offer visitor’s a wide variety of history, style and construction materials, ranging from 13^th century cellars to brand new city buildings that are only a few years old. However, the type of property most commonly associated with Chester is the Black and White half-timbered, Tudor style building which often appears to suggest great age and history, even where little if any exists. The city can also boast a plentiful supply of classically elegant Georgian houses, along with revivals of the much more ancient styles of architecture, including Roman, Greek and Gothic.

 

Despite the fact that Chester can probably offer an example of any sort of architecture that has been employed in England over the past 2000 years, much of what actually captures the eye and the imagination of the visitor today is probably new in terms of the city’s great age. And the reason for that is simple; it is because the central core of the city has been designed by a relatively small number of architects and designer’s who have either been artistically and stylistically sympathetic to their predecessors, guided by current trends or perhaps even influenced by a wealthy employer who had very clear ideas of how he wanted the particular building to look.

 

This particular section offers a brief overview of the careers and works of that relatively small number of men who most people would agree have been at the forefront of creating modern day Chester and whose work continues to draw inspiration and admiration from the hundreds of thousands of people who visit the city every year. Before beginning with the career of the Georgian architect, Joseph Turner, it is perhaps worth remembering that the city was still recovering from the devastating effects of the English Civil War siege in 1645 and that Chester was no longer a viable trading port, or indeed a strategically important military base, any and all of which might account for the sudden and expansive rounds of modernisation which took place in the city over the following 150-200 years. 

 

Joseph Turner (1729 – 1807)

 

Although Joseph Turner is commonly associated with the city of Chester and two of its most notable Georgian landmark structures, the Bridgegate and Watergate, he also has equally strong connections with the adjoining Welsh counties of Flintshire and Denbighshire, where he was reported to have been employed on a variety of important civic projects. It is also worth noting though that there seems to have been several generations of related architects, all of whom were called Joseph Turner, which has tended to confuse the issue of exactly which projects were undertaken by the different individuals.

 

Turner's Bridgegate

An architect of some repute, the Joseph Turner in question, has been credited with designing the House of Correction at Hawarden, as well as the gaols at both Flint and Ruthin, although the first of these project was thought to date from around 1740 which would have made the architect about 11 years old when he undertook the design, which clearly cannot be the case. It seems likely therefore that the House of Correction at Hawarden was actually undertaken by an earlier Joseph Turner, possibly the father, rather than the son who worked in Chester and who is the subject of this particular history. He was said to have been involved with the repair of Hawarden Parish Church, as well as the Cathedral at St Asaph and designed the brick and stone house at Hawarden Castle for the local landowner Sir John Glynn. This building was later said to have been added to and enhanced by the renowned architect John Nash, the man credited with designing Buckingham Castle.

 

There is a suggestion that Turner may have been living or working in Whitchurch around 1756; as it is recorded that a Mr Turner, architect, was sent for from there to survey the old Exchange building at Chester, possibly as part of one of the series of alterations which were undertaken on this building throughout its lifetime. Eleven years later, in 1767, a Mr Turner of Hawarden was reportedly asked to survey Chester’s medieval East Gate, its adjoining buildings and to design a new arch with a passageway above it. No record of his designs are thought to have survived, but evidently they were not accepted by the city’s corporation, as another architect, a Mr Hayden, was eventually contracted to produce the gateway which stands in Chester today.

 

Regardless of this particular rejection of his work, Joseph Turner continued to operate in and around the city and in 1774 was recorded to have been formally admitted as a Freeman of Chester. In the same year he was known to have submitted his designs for the new Ruthin Gaol, which was reported to have been built in 1775. Some three years later, in 1778, he was recorded to have been the under-tenant of Further Bayley’s Croft at Overleigh in the outlying township of Handbridge, although whether or not he was actually living there is unclear. 

 

In 1780, the architect was reported to have been residing in Chester itself, notably in the area of Paradise Row, a relatively new and exclusive suburb of the city which lay to the west of the ancient city walls and adjacent to the River Dee. According to records of the time, Turner was involved in purchasing plots of land in the area from a Mr Chamberlain, although the reason for the new land acquisitions is not particularly stated, but presumably the land was being bought for residential development. The Crane Street area of Chester was reported to have been laid out sometime after 1769 and by 1831 was being described as one of the most pleasant streets in the whole of the city

 

As his property holdings in the city increased, so too did his involvement in property and rental disputes which were commonly brought before the corporation and the courts. In 1780, he was reported to be in dispute over the rental of premises in both Queen Street and Crane Street, although full details of the disagreement are unclear. However, these cases failed to harm his architectural career, as in the following year he was asked to produce designs for a replacement for the city’s medieval Bridgegate, which was thought to be in a fairly perilous condition at that time.

 

With his designs accepted by the corporation, Chester’s medieval Bridgegate, including its flanking towers, drawbridge and portcullis’ was thought to have been demolished around 1780/1 and Turners replacement gateway substantially completed by 1782. In the same period he was reported to have been elected as one of the city’s Sheriffs in the autumn of that year.

 

In March 1785, Turner once again found himself in trouble with the local courts, when a local stonemason called John Broad prepared to sue the architect for £19 which he claimed he was owed for work done for the architect. However, the matter was finally settled when the stonemason’s brother, who was also Mr Turner’s foreman, promised to settle the debt on behalf of his employer, who at the time was reported to be “out of town”.

 

The Chester Watergate was completed circa 1788/9 and replaced a much more ancient gateway which by the middle of the 18^th century was recorded to have fallen into a fairly ruinous state. Historically held by members of the Stanley family, the Earls of Derby, this old medieval entrance was eventually bought by the city’s corporation and demolished almost immediately, being replaced by Turner’s archway which remains with us today.

 

During the 1780’s, Turner was reported to have been employed to design a terrace of houses in the Black Friars area of the city, possibly including the notable Soughton House and was the reported architect for the former County Jail which was built on City Walls Road around 1807, but which was subsequently demolished and replaced by the Queens School building, designed by another local architect E A Ould.

 

Watergate Flags

The row of fine Georgian houses on the northern side of today’s Lower Watergate Street are suggested as being designed by Turner and are thought to have been constructed around 1779, following the sale of building plots in the area the previous year. It was during the construction of these particular houses that a Roman Altar and the remains of a Roman Hypocaust were found, although many of these historic artefacts were said to have been simply disposed of by the local workmen employed to erect the buildings. Further north and adjoining these properties, the modern day Stanley Street and Stanley Place are also thought to date from around the same period, so it is possible that Turner would have been involved in designing a number of these stately buildings as well. 

 

Nearby, on the western flank of modern day Nicholas Street the extensive terrace of elegant Georgian properties, previously known as “Pill Box Terrace” are largely attributed to the same architect. Commonly thought to have been occupied by Chester’s professional classes, including a large number of doctors, from where it derived its locally held title, this whole area was thought to have been owned and inhabited by members of the local aristocracy and wealthy city merchants. Later architectural students however, have suggested that this particular terrace appears to have been built in a rather piecemeal fashion, which might imply that Turner was not the only designer involved in its overall construction.

 

Turner's Bridge of Sighs

Although not forgotten, perhaps one of Turner’s most commonly overlooked designs is the narrow footbridge which spans the imposing canal gorge outside of Chester’s Northgate. Known locally as the “Bridge of Sigh’s” this now defunct footway which dates from around 1793 replaced an earlier, much more temporary bridge, that was said to have been erected sometime after this section of the canal was completed in 1775 and linked the city’s still standing medieval Northgate Gaol with the Chapel of St John the Baptist within the Bluecoat School, where condemned felons received their final religious rites. Although the derivation of its name, Bridge of Sigh’s, is lost in time, one suggestion is that it recalls the sighs of relief by the prisoner as they were finally released from their incarceration in the gaol’s dark and damp confines, even though it was generally for their own execution. Alternatively, it has also been speculated that the name originates from the condemned prisoner’s habit of sighing heavily as they were led to their ultimate doom, or occasionally saving the executioner the trouble of hanging them, by leaping into the canal gorge of their own volition and ending their own personal misery. To prevent this, Turner’s bridge was originally designed with iron railings on either side, but these were thought to have been removed in later centuries as part of the nations need for scrap metals during times of war. By 1807 though, the bridge had become obsolete anyway, following the construction of Turner’s new County Gaol in City Walls Road and the later demolition of Chester’s infamous Northgate Gaol which was subsequently replaced by Thomas Harrison’s gateway which continues to stand today. 

 

Thomas Harrison (1744 – 1829)

 

Architect Thomas Harrison is now synonymous with the city and is unique in having been given the epithet “Of Chester” which no other building designer has since achieved. In 1785 the city’s corporation was recorded to have run a competition to find a suitable replacement for the County gaol which was housed within the precincts of the medieval castle and offered a prize of 50 guineas to the winning entry. Typhus or more commonly “gaol fever” was known to be rife at Chester’s historic castle prison and over the years hundreds of prisoners had succumbed to cold and disease while being held in its enclosed and airless conditions. The celebrated prison reformer John Howard had likened it to 'the black hole of Calcutta' and called for the city authorities to do away with the prison.

 

From the entries that they received the city authorities chose the plans of a relatively obscure 40-year-old architect called Thomas Harrison, who did not even live in Chester, but although unaware of it at the time, the adoption of his proposals would mark the start of a lifetimes work in the ancient city for the Yorkshire-born designer that would only end with his death in 1829.

 

Chester Castle Entrance

The son of a local joiner from Richmond in Yorkshire, Thomas Harrison was born in 1744 and as a young man was said to have showed an early talent for both mathematics and mechanics. Given his natural aptitude it was not long before his abilities attracted the attention of an aristocratic benefactor, Sir Lawrence Dundas, who was keen to develop the young man's talents. He arranged for the young Harrison to receive an extensive education and the “Grand Tour”, including an extended visit to Rome beginning in 1769 which allowed him to study the great architectural buildings of the “eternal” city. It was thought to be during this period that Harrison began to develop the architectural skills that he would later employ in many of his future commissions. In Rome his architectural drawings were said to have been so appreciated and admired by the Pontiff, Pope Ganganelli, that he was reported to have rewarded the young architect with a gold and silver papal medal.

 

Returning to England in 1776, Harrison was reported to have received a commission to design the new Skerton Bridge across the River Lune, reportedly the first level bridge in the country and soon followed this up with work on Lancaster’s Shire Hall, both of which projects were reported to have been substantially completed by 1783. He continued to undertake several projects in Lancashire, even while he was employed at Chester and was said to have received the commission to rebuild the precincts of Lancaster’s historic castle, a project which was thought to have lasted right through until 1802. 

 

Almost immediately Harrison’s proposals for the old gaol at Chester were extended to include the entire medieval castle complex, including the great Shire Hall and the many other medieval structures that had degraded so badly over the previous decades. Beginning in 1788 these ancient buildings were systematically demolished and swept away to be replaced with the modern castle development which inhabits the site today. Harrison’s new castle would ultimately include a magnificent Shire Hall, Crown Courts, Armoury, Prison and Military Barracks, all of which would take him the next 35 years to complete. Housed within three great sections, fronted by a central courtyard, the architects new castle buildings were described as being the finest County buildings in the Greek Revival style anywhere in the country and helping to establish him as one of the most pre-eminent regional architects of the age.

 

By 1792 the new gaol had been completed, its dirty disease-ridden communal chambers replaced by new individual cells for the prisoners, offering light and space to those that were incarcerated. Inmates that were being held for minor civil offences like debt were now kept separate from the more serious felons that were incarcerated for murder, theft, etc. At the time of its completion this new gaol was regarded by most as a real step forward in penal reform and yet it was later demolished to make way for the new County Hall which stands over the site today. However, it is also worth noting that there were some reports that large sections of the new gaol had to be rebuilt at a later date, due to the fact that much of this modern “humanitarian” prison had in fact been built by the inmates themselves, which led to an extremely poor level of construction throughout.

 

Between 1791 and 1801 the centrepiece of the new castle complex was constructed, the magnificently colonnaded portico incorporating the county’s Shire Hall and judicial Courts. To the east and west of this central building, new wings were added, which would subsequently accommodate the castle’s Armoury and Military Barracks. Now extending well beyond the limits of the original medieval walls Harrison designed a new gateway for the castle in the form of a 'Propylaeum' built on large stone columns. It was also during the reconstruction of the castle complex that Harrison was reported to have designed and built St Martin’s Lodge, one of his homes in the city, which is dated from around 1796.

 

Chester Castle's Propylaeum

Although the problem was not obvious during Harrison’s time, the decision to build the Shire Hall and its Courts directly above the former medieval castle's moat would later prove to be a costly decision. In the 1920s large cracks began to appear in the court buildings which were attributed to the inadequate foundations that lay below them. Remedial work was undertaken almost immediately and by 1922 the building and its supporting columns had been fully restored. To this day Chester Crown Court regularly hears a number of high profile criminal cases, but is most commonly linked with the 1960s trial of Myra Hindley and Ian Brady who were tried and found guilty of the infamous Moors Murders.

 

The Yorkshire-born architect was also said to have undertaken a partial restoration of the city’s historic Cathedral, which had suffered much over the previous centuries and continued to be visited by a number of the nations leading architects in an effort to maintain its fabric, even after Harrison had completed his work. Visitors and commentators alike had been moved to highlight the dreadfully poor condition of its magnificent stonework and to call for action to save the historic structure. Between 1818 and 1820 extensive renovations were undertaken by the architect to preserve the building’s inner and outer fabric and to ensure that it would survive intact in the coming decades.

 

Harrison was also responsible for the overall design of Chester’s second river crossing, the Grosvenor Bridge, but sadly did not live to see its completion as he died on 29^th March 1829, aged 85. Opened by the then 13-year-old Princess Victoria in 1833 the bridge project was reported to have been completed by William Cole, a pupil of Harrison’s. Up until 1864 the Grosvenor Bridge was thought to be the world’s greatest single span stone bridge, standing 200 feet wide and 60 feet high.

 

Although Harrison is still generally credited with the design of the new second crossing of the River Dee, the Grosvenor Bridge; it was largely constructed under the supervision of William Cole, one of Harrison’s most notable pupils, simply because Harrison himself had resigned from the post of architect some years before the bridge was actually completed.

 

Plans for the proposed second crossing were thought to have originally been put in place as early as 1818, with a suggested location at Handbridge and much closer to the historic Old Dee Bridge which had served as the only permanent crossing for hundreds of years. However, problems regarding the foundations for the new river crossing and the need for Parliamentary permissions in order to construct the new bridge caused a delay of several years, during which time the likes of Brunel and Telford were thought to have become involved with the engineering aspects of the scheme, causing dissent amongst the various parties. By 1827 the plans had received all necessary permissions, but clearly Harrison, its designer, was thought to have become so exasperated by the unexpected and possibly unwelcome interference by these other equally notable and qualified engineers that he was said to have simply withdrawn from the project.

 

Harrison's Grosvenor Bridge

Another less well known engineer who was also reported to have been involved with the construction of Harrison’s new Bridge crossing was James Trubshaw, the son of a local stonemason who had been born in Staffordshire in 1777. Trubshaw was reported to have left school at 11 years of age to work in his father’s business and to learn his trade. In 1808, following his father’s death, James was said to have set up his own building company and eventually progressed to become the Chief Engineer of the Trent and Mersey Canal Company. This post enabled him to gain both experience and recognition in the building of reservoirs and railway lines for the company, which he would carry with him throughout his life. Trubshaw gained note for his pioneering work in the technique of under excavation, which helped to stabilize leaning towers and steeples which seemed to be in danger of toppling over. The talented builder was also recorded to have worked on Fonthill Abbey, Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. 

 

Before his death Thomas Harrison was also said to have rebuilt the ancient St Bridget’s church around 1825 after it had been removed from its original home in Bridge Street to make way for the laying out of Grosvenor Road and relocating it close to the castle complex. Sadly the rebuilt church failed to survive later city developments and finally disappeared forever at the end of the 19^th century along with a number of other historic buildings. As with the still standing Grosvenor Bridge though, the rebuilt church of St Bridget’s was probably constructed under the watchful eye of William Cole, rather than the great architect Harrison. 

 

Folliot House in Northgate Street which was built as his private residence dates from around 1788 is yet another Harrison building that has managed to last the test of time, albeit in a much reduced form, but is now largely hidden behind the 'Odeon' cinema and converted into offices. Further along Northgate Street Chester’s northern gate was also designed by the same architect and erected between 1808 and 1810. This important civic project was later followed by a series of other commissions in the city including the Commercial Newsrooms, which later became the Barclay’s City Club, the Wesleyan Chapel in St John Street which was completed in 1811, Dee Hills House, later the Ursuline Convent, which was completed in 1814, Richmond Terrace, built by Harrison for Robert Baxter in the same year and Watergate House which he built for his friend Henry Potts, the Clerk of the Peace and completed in 1820.

 

Harrison's Foliot House

Although many of his landmark buildings were built in Chester and he made the city his adopted home, Harrison’s reputation was reported to have travelled way beyond the limits of the city and the northwest region of Britain. Following his rebuilding of both Chester’s and Lancaster’s castle precincts and notably the formers infamous gaol, it was reported that a deputation was sent from London to request that Harrison visit the capital’s worst prisons and recommend what work was needed to improve them. He was also recorded to have designed a number of celebratory columns around the region, including those at Shrewsbury, the Menai Straits and at Holyhead.

 

He was also known to have accepted and completed a number of commissions for wealthy landowners and aristocrats, including restoring the Elgin Marbles for their titled owner, as well as undertaking a number of works for various Scottish nobles at their ancestral seats. Closer to home he has been credited with designing the Lyceum in Liverpool, along with the Exchange Building in Manchester. 

 

In 1843 a noted northwest architect wrote of Harrison that “it was to be regretted that he (Harrison) had buried his fine talents in the obscure city of Chester, instead of settling in London and correcting the bad taste of Nash, Sloane and others”

 

When he died in March 1829 Harrison was laid to rest in the family vault which was located in the churchyard of the newly raised St Bridget’s which lay close to his home at St Martin’s Lodge. Despite this church later being demolished, it was thought that the burial grounds were later absorbed into the parish of St Mary’s which lay close to Harrison’s new castle complex. However, when Chester’s new inner ring road system was being laid out during the 1960’s these grounds were reported to have been cleared to make way for the new roadway. Along with many other burials and family crypts, Thomas Harrison’s vault was thought to have been rediscovered and a closer inspection revealed the presence of three separate coffins within the vault, although there was no clear indication of which one was Harrison’s. All of the burials recovered at that time were reported to have been re-interred at the city’s municipal Blacon cemetery on the outskirts of Chester.

 

Thomas Lunt (1770 – 1851)

 

One of the most notable local builders and altruistic businessmen of the later Georgian and early Victorian periods in Chester, who is often overlooked by history, was Thomas Lunt, who was reported to have been born in Tattenhall on the outskirts of Chester sometime during 1770.

 

Harrison's Watergate House

A builder and iron founder who lived in the St John Street area of the city he was said to have laid out plans for the Bold Square area of the city as early as 1814, the name deriving from a Madam Bold who was thought to have lived there at the time. His small “Union” bridge which spanned the city’s new Chester and Nantwich canal linked the newly emerging Egerton Street with Bold Square and Seller Street both of which stood on the southern bank of the waterway and is thought to date from around 1820. Seller Street itself was thought to have been built at the expense of a Mr William Seller, a noted local brewery owner and city politician who was said to have raised the rows of terraced housing for those that he employed in his various businesses. Today, only a fraction of Bold Square continues to stand in the city and virtually all of William Seller’s properties have since been razed from the ground to make way for more modern housing developments.

 

Lunt has also been largely credited with the construction and layout of Egerton Street in the Newtown area of Chester, where he was thought to have established an Iron Foundry, supplying the much needed building material to the city’s emerging industries and commercial interests. As well as Chester’s long gone Commercial Hall, which once occupied a site close to today’s British Home Stores and former Littlewood’s store in Foregate Street, this historic character was also thought to be responsible for constructing Chester’s Union Hall in 1809 which stood on the opposite side of the same city thoroughfare, on the site now marked by the 1920’s Mark’s and Spencer’s storefront.

 

Demolished during the early 1950’s, Lunt’s Commercial Hall, which was said to have been a forerunner of today’s modern shopping centres, was constructed around 1815 and during its 135 year history had served as a second market hall in Chester, being occupied by a large number of both single and double shop units, located over two floors. During the city fairs which were held in both July and October of each year, tradesmen from all over the country, including London, Glasgow, Birmingham and Sheffield would converge on the Commercial Hall and sell their much needed wares to Chester’s traders and shoppers.

 

As well as being a noted businessman within the city, Thomas was also said to be a member of the city’s Quaker community who attended the Society of Friend’s meeting house in Frodsham Street and was a renowned philanthropist and by repute, a man of high integrity and honour.

 

Thomas Lunt's Union Bridge

In the later part of his life, Thomas was reported to have found his financial circumstances much reduced, possibly as a result of his altruism and his suggested project for a vital canal scheme designed to reinvigorate the historic port of Chester. Designed to help the city to compete effectively with the commercial threat then being posed by both the Liverpool and Manchester inland waterway systems, his proposed plan to build a new ship canal from Dawpool or Mostyn direct to the city of Chester would have protected and expanded the diminishing inshore trade that operated into the city. However as with all such schemes that were suggested within the city, there seems to have been little public appetite or indeed financial assistance for such a scheme and so the plan was shelved, possibly much to Thomas Lunt’s own personal financial cost.

 

Prior to his death, such were his financial difficulties, that a number of his friends within the local business community were said to have offered him financial aid, all of which were thought to have been politely refused by the extremely proud entrepreneur. He was then reported to have relocated himself and his family to Liverpool, where on the 7^th November 1851 he was said to have passed away.

 

Rather than be buried away from his family roots however, later reports suggest that his body was subsequently removed to Tattenhall in Cheshire where he was interred along with his son John who had died in 1804, at the tender age of ten years and his daughter Martha who had died in 1798, aged twenty-two years old.  

 

James Harrison (1814 – 1866)

 

St Michael's

Reportedly a relative of the much more famous architect Thomas Harrison of Chester, James was actually thought to be the son of one David or James Harrison, depending on which historical source is accepted as being accurate, who was said to be a noted mason and monument maker working in the Linen Hall Street area of the city. Like his father, James was also said to be a talented mason and is known to have produced a number of stone tablets for various Chester Churches, including that of William Currie at St Mary’s on the hill which he was thought to have designed in 1834. His building designs were said to be heavily influenced by the Gothic architectural style and his work at both St Michael’s and Holy Trinity Churches are thought to be some of his finest commissions in the city.

 

Although today Harrison is generally remembered for his rebuilding of religious buildings, in and around the Chester area, he along with his better known contemporaries were known to have undertaken a variety of commissions, both for the church authorities, as well as for a number of wealthy individuals who lived within Cheshire.

 

Between 1849 and 1850 St Michael’s Church, which now serves as Chester’s Heritage Centre, was largely rebuilt by Harrison, principally because much of its ancient fabric was in such a ruinous condition and its early steeple appears to have been in danger of falling down. Reportedly demolished during the winter months of 1848, using cranes borrowed from Chester’s new castle complex, the foundation stone for the restored St Michael’s church was reported to have been laid in May 1849 and the whole building completed by the early months of 1850.

 

Queens Park, which lies on the southern bank of the River Dee, was developed as a private residential estate by the businessman Enoch Gerrard who was thought to have employed a number of Chester’s leading architects to design and build the affluent estate. James was reported to have begun his association with the landowner around 1850, about the same time that he was finalising his rebuilding of St Michael’s church in the city.

 

Another of his earliest commissions in Chester was thought to be for the design of the Chester (later the Trustee’s) Savings Bank building which is reported to date from the period between 1851 and 1853. Although the site now operates as a restaurant, the Chester Savings Bank was reported to have been founded around 1817 and was initially located in the city’s Exchange building which was in the same general area of today’s Victorian Town Hall. It was thought to have remained around the Market Square until 1846 when the bank premises were temporarily relocated to Goss Street, which is just off Watergate Street. In 1851 the owners were said to have purchased the land in Grosvenor Street for the specific purpose of erecting their brand new premises, which were designed by Harrison in a largely Tudor Gothic style. 

 

Shortly after starting the Chester Savings Bank commission, Harrison was fortunate enough to be offered yet another church building project by the religious authorities. The church of the Holy Ascension at Upton-by-Chester was designed and built by the architect between 1852 and 1854, requiring him to switch between this project and the still to be completed bank building in Grosvenor Street.

 

St Nicholas' Chapel

St Nicholas’ Chapel was reported to have been converted into a theatre around 1773, but the city’s Mayor had issued a proclamation in 1777 prohibiting any further performances until such time as a licence was granted for that specific purpose, which given the nature of the building, required an Act of Parliament. It’s later conversion into a Music Hall by Harrison between the years 1854 and 1855 simply marked one particular phase of the building’s extensively mixed history, as it has later been used as a cinema, a clothes store and then a retail supermarket. The adjoining Music Hall Passage, leading from St Werburgh Street to Northgate Street, recalls this historic buildings previous existence as a place of entertainment, designed by Harrison. At the eastern end of the passage, large sandstone blocks from the Chapels very earliest foundation are still evident today.

 

Around the same time that Harrison was finalizing the work on St Nicholas’ chapel, the brand new Christ Church located at Hough Green on the outskirts of Chester was in the process of being designed and constructed by the architect, with a reported completion date of 1855 assigned to the building.

 

Number 40 Bridge Street, Chester was rebuilt by Harrison in 1858 and in the same year, both numbers 51 and 53 in the same city thoroughfare were reported to have been rebuilt to the designs of the same architect, with both properties thought to originate from 1700.

 

The ancient St Olave’s Church in Chester, which is reported to have been founded prior to the Norman Conquest of the city in 1070, was yet another restoration projects undertaken by Harrison, with the work reportedly being largely completed by 1859. Close by, the church of St Mary’s within-the-walls, which today operates as an educational centre, was restored by Harrison around 1861.

 

The following year, God’s Providence House, was rebuilt by Harrison in 1862 and is inscribed with the words “God’s Providence is Mine Inheritance”, a clear reference to the householders belief that God had spared him and his family from an outbreak of plague in the city. Carrying a date of 1652, the building was likely to have been rebuilt following the end of the Civil War siege of Chester, a time when poor sanitation and the influx of thousands of soldiers was thought to have caused several instances of the dreaded disease.

 

The Old Custom’s House in Watergate Street was thought to have originally been built around 1633, the offices having been moved from Chester’s medieval castle buildings around that time and was then rebuilt to Harrison’s designs in around 1868, two years after the architects untimely death. The adjoining church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, which now operates as the city’s Guildhall, was also restored to Harrison’s designs around the same time, but once again was only completed after his death, probably by his former pupils and later successors, Edwards and Kelly who were reported to have taken over his practice which was located in St Werburgh’s Street, Chester.

 

Old Customs House

The Volunteer Drill Hall in Chester was built by Public Subscription in 1869 and at the time of its construction ran from just off Pepper Street southward to Duke Street near the River Dee. This particular area of the city, including Albion Street and Albion Place had earlier replaced two of Chester’s infamous housing “courts”, namely Roberts and Wilkinson’s which had formerly stood on part of the site. Despite having died at least three years before the Drill Hall was actually built, its accreditation to Harrison is thought to indicate that it was his plans that were used to construct the complex, even though its was his successors Kelly and Edwards who actually oversaw its building.

 

Despite being one of the city’s most prominent architects and having left his mark on a number of Chester’s landmark buildings, there is a suggestion that Harrison was a fairly solitary, perhaps even slightly tragic figure who continued to live with his parents, at their home in St Martin’s-in-the-field right up until his comparatively early death at the age of 52.

 

Thomas Mainwaring Penson (1818 – 1864)

 

Thomas Mainwaring Penson was born into a family of regional architects, with his father also called Thomas, reportedly having studied under the renowned Thomas Harrison of Chester. His older brother Richard Kyrke Penson was also a noted architect in the family’s home town of Oswestry, but Thomas Mainwaring Junior decided to pursue his career in the historic city of Chester.

 

He was responsible for the design of Overleigh Cemetery’s Bridges & Gates between 1848 and 1850, although the actual layout of the cemetery grounds themselves was thought to have been the work of another landscape designer, a Mr Lister. Penson was reported to have designed a bridge within the grounds, which has long since disappeared, along with the gates and piers which continue to adorn the main entrances to the city’s suburban graveyard. In a curious twist perhaps, this cemetery is still said to hold the mortal remains of Penson’s architectural contemporaries, John Douglas, Thomas Meakin Lockwood, along with a number of other notable individuals, who were responsible for building the city we know today. Some seven years after completing his designs for the cemetery, Penson was reported to have returned to the same site, this time as the architect responsible for the design of the Henry Raikes tomb and monument, which was said to have been sculpted by one Thomas Earp. Raike, who lived between 1782 and 1854, was reported to have been the Chancellor of the Chester Diocese, as well as being an active politician within the city and his grand tomb, designed by Penson, continues to reflect both the wealth and importance of this particular individual. 

Grosvenor Hotel Front

Thomas has often been categorized as a student of the Gothic Revivalist style, who has been accused by some critics of over-embellishing his works with heavy ornamentation and irregular features. Penson’s first architectural commission, in which he was said to have first employed the Black & White Revival style for which he and other Chester architects have become noted, was on the restoration of 22-24 Eastgate Street in around 1852, with one of the gables of the restored building still carrying a date of 1640, the year that it was originally built. In 1856 he was recorded to have undertaken another project at numbers 34-36 in the same street, having just completed an earlier project at the city’s racecourse, rebuilding the grandstand which was thought to have been destroyed by fire during 1855. The Eastgate Street building designed by Penson is generally described as being classically revival in style and was perhaps influenced by or a tribute to the works of Thomas Harrison, who had reintroduced this style of architecture to Chester some 50-odd years earlier.

 

His next major undertaking in Chester was reported to be the “Browns” crypt building which is said to date from 1857/8 and built in a High Victorian Gothic style for the Brown family, who were reported to have been milliners and haberdashers in the city since 1828, when the business was first founded by Susannah Brown. As part of the commission, Penson’s new department store building incorporated the medieval under-croft which had stood on the same site for hundreds of years and is used today as part of the modern shop premises. In 1858 and between this new Gothic building and his earlier restoration project of 1852 Penson then undertook a second Black and White restoration commission at no 26 Eastgate Street, which is described as a mid 17^th century house that contains a number of early Jacobean features, including a ceiling, staircase and mantelpiece.  

 

Penson has also been credited with designing Chester’s long since demolished Militia Building, which he was thought to have completed sometime around 1858 and previously occupying the site of the 20^th century Cheshire Police Headquarters which itself has recently been demolished to make way for a new multi-million pound hotel complex. Designed and built to house the soldiers and their families garrisoned at the nearby Chester Castle, this uniform and robust looking building was said to be reminiscent of a much earlier defensive structure, complete with castellated walls, but was thought by some to have been heavily influenced by the relatively modern fortress at Peckforton. 

 

The Queen’s Hotel in Chester’s City Road, which still faces the Victorian General Railway Station it was built to serve, was rebuilt by Penson and Cornelius Sherlock from Liverpool in 1862 following a fire which had destroyed a large part of the earlier building, save for a brand new wing which had just been built and somehow managed to survive the inferno.

 

Queens Hotel Entrance

The modern day Grosvenor Hotel stands on the site of two former city hotels, the White Talbot and the Golden Talbot, which were, in their turn succeeded by the Royal Hotel. Its construction was thought to have caused the loss of a number of properties in the city’s then still existent Fleshmongers Row, which later became known as Newgate Street. Although the modern hotel was thought to have been built to Thomas’ designs, it has been suggested that the building itself was actually raised under the control of his older brother Richard, after the hostelry was first commissioned by the 2^nd Duke of Westminster.

 

As with his equally notable fellow architect, James Harrison, Thomas died a comparatively young man, being 46 years of age at the time of his death. Just a year or so before his untimely demise, he was reported to have undertaken his final commission at Chester, the design of the east window of St John’s church in the city, with the glass being supplied by Clayton and Bell.

 

John Douglas (1830 – 1911)

 

Douglas was the son of a local building contractor and surveyor from Sandiway in Cheshire who trained under Edward G Paley of Lancaster and was known to have travelled widely throughout Northern Europe and North West England, developing his own particular architectural style which mixed stone, brick and timber into a buildings construction. Having settled down to practice in the historic city of Chester around 1860, his emerging and highly individual style helped to further develop the “Black and White” revivalist look that has become synonymous with the city and which was said to have first been reintroduced by T M Penson some years earlier. Some of Douglas’ best work is thought to be in St Werburgh Street in Chester.

 

Douglas' Police Station

Around the same time that he started in practice, Douglas was reported to have married Elizabeth Edmunds with whom he would have five children, although only two sons were reported to have survived to their majority. Initially living in the Abbey Square area of the city, where the architect had both his home and office, by 1869 Douglas was said to have removed his family home to Dee Hills on the outskirts of Chester, occupying one of two houses that he himself had designed and built at his own expense. However, although his professional life was thriving during the period, his family life was not so fortunate and in 1878 he was reported to have lost his beloved wife, Elizabeth, and 9 years later buried his eldest surviving son, Colin, who died of Tuberculosis at the surprisingly young age of 23.

 

By the mid 1890’s, Douglas along with his single surviving son, Sholto, was thought to have moved to the new Walmoor Hill property that he had once again designed and built at his own expense, an impressive Tudor style buildings which was ridiculed by some and admired by many others. Despite the problems of his personal life, professionally, Douglas remained as one of the most pre-eminent and sought after regional architects of his age and counted amongst his clientele the great and the good of both northern England and the Welsh borders. His client list included the Duke of Westminster, Lord’s Delamere and Leverhulme, various city and church authorities from around the region, as well as a plethora of individually wealthy landowners including the Egertons and the Frosts, etc.

 

Throughout his renowned career, the sheer breadth and variety of building designed by Douglas and his associated partners is not only surprising, but should perhaps be more aptly described as staggering. He undertook public and private commissions for churches, chapels, farm buildings and cottages, grand halls and mansions, hotels, as well as stables and even found time to design at least two hospitals within the northwest region. But his most famous and photographed design is undoubtedly Chester’s world famous Eastgate Clock, reportedly the second most photographed clock in the world, behind Big Ben in London. 

 

Douglas' Park Lodge

From 1885 Douglas was known to be in partnership with a Daniel Porter Fordham, a draughtsman who had previously been employed in the architect’s offices, but from around 1889 onwards and following Fordham’s retirement due to illness, he was reported to be practicing under the company name of Douglas and Minshall. Charles Howard Minshall had formerly been articled to Douglas during the 1870’s, though remaining with the architect following the end of his apprenticeship and ultimately becoming a junior partner to his former employer. It was during this period that the firm was thought to have designed a number of buildings at Port Sunlight, including the Dell Bridge, the Lyceum, the Collegium and several other properties on the new estate, as well as collaborating with Minshall on houses that were constructed on the new Chester Road, Pool Bank and Primrose Hill. In 1909 however, the partnership was reported to have been dissolved, for what particular reason is unknown, although Douglas’ personal circumstances, including his alcoholic son Sholto, may have played a part in causing dissent between the partners. Minshall was later said to have established another practice in the city with an individual called E J Muspratt, although this business failed to achieve anything like the recognition of Douglas’ firm. 

 

Such was Douglas’ reputation that examples of his work were illustrated throughout Europe including those of his buildings on the Eaton estate, the home of the Grosvenor family who were by far his most important and influential clients.

 

One of his first commissions for the Grosvenor family was for the design of the buildings at the newly opened Grosvenor Park complex which was undertaken sometime between 1865 and 1867 and included the half-timbered Park Lodge Building, featuring figures of a number of the city’s early Norman rulers. This particular commission also included the designs for the canopy for the reportedly ancient “Billy Hobby’s” well, as well as the elaborate gates and piers which adorned the entrance to the new leisure park complex.

 

Around the same time Douglas was commissioned to design St Bartholomew’s Church at Sealand which was reported to have been built in around 1867. Today, the building serves as the parish church for worshippers from both the Sealand Road area of the city and for the nearby village of Saughall, but attracts little attention from fans of the architect, due to its semi-rural location.

 

As previously mentioned, in 1869 Douglas was reported to have acquired a plot of land on the outskirts of the city, in the Boughton area, on which he designed and built a pair of new properties, later known as 31 and 33 Dee Banks. The following year, he was thought to have undertaken the first phase of the buildings which now stand in the Bath Street area of the city, although the completed project is thought to be a mix of both Douglas and his contemporary Lockwood and taking until 1903 to fully complete.

 

St Werburgh Street Buildings

Around 1874 Douglas designed and built numbers 15-27 on the east side of St Werburgh’s Street in Chester for Mr George Hodkinson and two years later, in 1876, he was reported to have begun the initial phases of the new Christ Church in Newtown which he was thought to have completed in stages, between the years 1876 and 1900. The Baptist Chapel, in the newly laid out Grosvenor Park Road, now housing the Zion Chapel, was built by the architect around 1879 and at the same he began construction of the adjoining terrace of properties at numbers 6-11 Grosvenor Park Road. These were said to have been built at Douglas’ own expense and later, along with his buildings in Bath Street formed part of the area which commonly became known as “Douglasville”.

 

St Oswald’s Vicarage, which later served as the English department of Chester College, was built by Douglas in 1880 and the following year he began the Grosvenor Club building in Eastgate Street, which later became the home of the N and S Wales Bank and today continues to serve a similar purpose for the HSBC. Completed in 1883, the property was thought to have been further extended by Douglas, sometime around 1908. The now often overlooked County Police Building at the corner of Grosvenor Park Road was built by the architect in 1884 and is similar in look to his earlier commission, the Grosvenor Club building, being faced with a highly attractive red brick.

 

The north Porch of the church of St John the Baptist was said to have been rebuilt by the architect in 1882 following the collapse of the nearby tower and 4 years later he was said to have also undertaken the rebuilding of the north-east Belfry. This was not the first time that the architect had completed work at St John’s, as some reports suggest that Douglas had first completed work there around 1876, although the nature or scale of this earlier commission is unclear.  





Douglas' Shoemakers Row

Parkers Buildings in Foregate Street, Chester were designed by Douglas around 1890 as accommodation for retired workers from the city’s Grosvenor Estates and were erected by the Northern Counties Housing Association. This association with the Dukes of Westminster continued with the restoration of the historic Falcon Inn, the one time home of the Grosvenor family in the city, which was thought to have been restored by Douglas around 1894. Another of the architect’s personal building projects, at numbers 2-18 St Werburgh’s Street, on the eastern side of the thoroughfare, was thought to have been constructed between 1895 and 1899, with the then Duke reportedly influencing Douglas’ choice of style for the new terrace of buildings. 

 

As noted previously, Walmoor House, on the Queens Park estate, was designed and built by Douglas for his own use around 1896 and two years later he was commissioned to design and build No 7 Grosvenor Street as a home and training centre for city midwives which was commissioned by the 1^st Duke of Westminster and in the same year he was also said to have designed St Oswald’s Chamber in St Werburgh’s Street.

 

Douglas’ most celebrated and photographed creation in the city is the Chester Eastgate Clock, which he designed to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897, but which was only completely erected and working by 1899. That same year, he was thought to have begun the reconstruction of Shoemaker’s Row in Northgate Street, which is said to have been designed by a number of Chester’s noted architects, often in a fairly piecemeal fashion, between 1899 and 1904.

 

Chester's Eastgate Clock

Back within the area of “Douglasville”, the architect was reported to have designed and built the Chester Public Baths complex sometime around 1901 and at the northern end of the same Bath Street, the Prudential Assurance Building, was said to have been completed by Douglas in 1903. To the east of these buildings and once again in the Boughton suburb of the city, Douglas was reported to have undertaken design work on St Paul’s Church, Boughton, sometime around 1906.

 

Shotwick Park was a commission for a House and Stables ordered by Thornycroft Vernon, which were rebuilt after a fire in 1907 and today serves as an Old People’s Home. The site was connected with the ancient Shotwick Castle, first built by Earl Hugh Lupus in the 12^th century. Douglas was reported to have designed the buildings there, between 1872/1875.

 

When he died on 23^rd May 1911 at his Walmoor Hill home, Douglas was reported to have left a personal estate of some £32,000, as well as title to numerous properties in and around the city. His architectural practice was later absorbed by the less notable Minshall and Muspratt, becoming Douglas, Minshall and Muspratt. The remains of the architect were later interred in the family’s tomb at Chester’s Overleigh Cemetery where they can often overlooked by visitors. Happily though, many of his works continue to grace the precincts of the historic city, allowing resident and visitor alike to admire skills of the man that  Pevsner once described as the “very best Cheshire architect”.  

 

Thomas Meakin Lockwood (1830 – 1900)

 

Much of Lockwood’s career and his associated buildings were conducted in the city and along with John Douglas and TM Penson he has been credited with creating the Chester “look”, the black and white, half-timbered style which has become synonymous with the city. He was extensively employed by the 1^st Duke of Westminster in Chester and he is remembered with a memorial window in the north aisle of St John the Baptist church in Chester. His most famous and photographed commissions in Chester, are the buildings which form the junction between Bridge Street and Eastgate Street at Chester’s High Cross which was completed around 1888. On the opposite side of Bridge Street, marking its junction with Watergate Street, the buildings and elevated rows are also Lockwood’s work, being completed sometime around 1892.

 

Lockwood's High Cross

Despite his obvious talents and his generally sympathetic approach to Chester’s historic buildings, even a man of Lockwood’s stature occasionally got it wrong and his rebuilding of the section of Bridge Street, including the notable St Michael’s Row, was said to be so “foreign” to Chester’s look that there was a public outcry, which forced the offending work to be torn down and rebuilt in a more traditional and acceptable fashion, reportedly by the architect’s son. 

 

One of Lockwood’s earliest commissions was Chester’s Northgate Church, built in 1874 and located at the northern end of Upper Northgate Street and today sited close to the much more modern Fountain’s Roundabout, which is a by product of Chester’s 1960’s inner ring road system. The church today is largely associated with the student body of the city’s University College in nearby Parkgate Road, as well as the neighbouring communities in Lorne Street, etc.

 

In 1877 Lockwood undertook the design and construction of the Grosvenor Rowing Club Boathouse which sits alongside the bank of the River Dee. Close by and some 4 years later the architect was commissioned to design the Hall for the church of St John The Baptist which continues to stand in this part of the city, a building he would revisit in 1895, when he designed the Organ Case for the same religious house. 

 

On the western side of Chester in 1885, Lockwood has been credited with the rebuilding and extending of White Friars Lodge, a historic building in the city which owed its title to the former presence of the Carmelite Order which was known to have inhabited this particular area of the city.

 

Prior to the construction of Lockwood’s Grosvenor Museum building in 1885, Chester’s Archaeological Society, along with many of their historic finds were thought to have been housed at the Albion Hotel which was located in the Lower Bridge Street area of the city. The new museum building, constructed by the architect was commissioned by the 1^st Duke of Westminster and just as this commission was coming to an end Lockwood was reported to be designing the property at No. 3 Upper Northgate Street, which was thought to have been built as a town house for one of Chester’s wealthier residents.

 

Lockwood's High Cross Designs

Two years later, the architect received one of his most important commissions in the city from the Duke of Westminster, when he was asked to rebuild the adjoining buildings at No: 2 Eastgate Street and No: 1 Bridge Street, properties which formed the south east junction of Chester historic High Cross area. Facing the southern wall of St Peter’s ancient church, these buildings which form the convergence of two of the city’s most historic streets, along with Douglas’s Eastgate Clock, are possibly one of the most photographed city landmarks and is even featured in one of the regions television news broadcasts. 

 

Away from the main shopping thoroughfares, evidence of Lockwood’s work continues to exist in some of the city’s less obvious but still equally important streets, most notably at 24 to 26 Common Hall Street and numbers 2 to 5 Old Hall Place. All of these properties were reported to have been built as staff cottages for Browns of Chester employees and presumably commissioned by a member of that merchant family in around 1889.

 

Following his successful work at the south east junction of the High Cross, in 1892, the Duke of Westminster then commissioned Lockwood to redesign the opposite junction of the street, including numbers 2 to 4 Bridge Street, which the architect did, but in a wholly different style. 

 

Further south of these buildings and on the eastern side of the street, today’s St Michael’s Row and the associated stone stairway and St Michael’s Arcade are all attributed to Lockwood, although some sources suggest that the half timbered street frontages are the work of his son, rather than the architect himself. According to contemporary reports, the whole of this area was originally designed and constructed sometime around 1900, in the same tiles and brickwork style as is evident in St Michael’s Arcade today. These designs were said to have caused such a furore amongst the local population that the Duke of Westminster, who had originally commissioned the scheme, later ordered the street facades taken down and replaced with the traditional and much more acceptable half timbered look that exists today.

 

Lockwood's St Michael's Row

One of Lockwood’s most pleasing designs that continue to stand alongside the city’s Eastgate is the Old Bank Buildings at numbers 2 to 6 Foregate Street, which is reported to date from 1895 and at one time was said to have been considered for demolition, although clearly commonsense finally intervened to retain such a landmark building. More of his work can still also be seen at numbers 10 to 18 Foregate Street, although only the western section of this property is thought to be Lockwood and dates from 1896.

 

The Blossoms Hotel, which now occupies a site in St John Street, formerly stood in the city’s Foregate Street, at the junction with St John’s Street, the site later being occupied by the National Westminster Bank and today, by the “Lush” retail outlet. The later frontage dated 1911 was thought to have been designed by Lockwood himself, but raised by one of the architects sons, sometime after his death in 1900.

 

Although Lockwood does not appear to have been particularly favoured by the local council for some reason, in 1897 he was the architect that the corporation turned to following a fire in the new Town Hall’s Council Chamber which had been seriously damaged by fire. Two years later Bishop Lloyd’s House in Watergate Street was restored by the architect and in the final year of his life, 1900, Lockwood was reported to have started his final two projects in the city. Numbers 4 to 10 in the City Road area of Chester was a commission for a new property, which continues to stand today and possibly first served as a bank building for the city’s emerging middle classes. His second project of that final year was said to be at numbers 9 to 13 Eastgate Street, on the northern flank of the thoroughfare and including the site of today’s famous Boot Inn. Reportedly a renovation rather than a complete rebuild, a number of these historic buildings are thought to date from the 16^th and 17^th centuries, although their ancient timber frames are now hidden by Lockwood’s later work.

 

E A Ould (1852 – 1909)

 

The young Edward Augustus Ould was known to have studied in York during the 1870’s before becoming a pupil of the noted Chester architect John Douglas. Obviously influenced by his mentor, Ould was known to be an advocate and practitioner of the revivalist style of architecture, which employed the “Black & White” half timbered look, commonly found both in the city and in the surrounding countryside.

 

1911 Foregate St Frontage

He was reported to have established his own architectural practice in 1882 and in 1886 went into partnership with George Grayson, with both men regularly employed designing houses, villas and rectories, in and around the northwest area. They were also known to have undertaken a number of building commissions at the Port Sunlight village established by William Lever, many of which were undertaken between 1888 and 1909. Their works on the new estate were thought to have included, the Auditorium, the Bridge Inn, Church Drive School and the Cottage Hospital.

 

For his own part, Ould was thought to be a highly skilled and technical architect, who was more interested in the form and function of his designs, rather than just simply how they looked and was said to have received regular commissions from the Grosvenor family.

 

The Chester Queens School which was completed around 1878 and originally known as the Chester School For Girls, stands on the site of the former County Gaol, which itself had only been newly built around 1807, to replace the infamous Northgate gaol which had been demolished and replaced about the same time. The land for the new school was thought to have been donated by the Duke of Westminster, who along with a number of the city’s wealthiest inhabitants was reported to have helped finance the new institution.

 

In 1882, Queen Victoria herself, was reported to have decreed that the new school should forthwith be called the Queen’s School, a title which it continues to retain today. The school building itself is said to be in the Tudor-Gothic style of architecture.

 

EA Ould's Queen School Frontage

Ould has also been credited with designing Uffington House in the Dee Hills Park area of the city. This particular 4 storey house was thought to have been built for Judge Thomas Hughes, the author of the famous novel “Tom Brown’s Schooldays”, sometime around 1885 and was named in memory of the family’s hometown in Berkshire.

 

Although not a prolific architect in the historic city of Chester, Ould was known to have been largely employed by a small number of wealthy individual’s throughout his career, including the likes of the Grosvenor’s and Lord Lever. One of his most important and longest lasting working relationships though, was said to have been with the Samuel Theodore Mander, a member of the family who made their fortune from the manufacture of paints and varnishes. Edward was thought to have been engaged on the redesign and rebuilding of Mander’s country estate at Wightwick Manor over a period of several years.  

 

Other Noted Architects In Chester

 

Sir Robert Taylor (1714 – 1788)

 

Taylor was born at Woodford, Essex in 1714 and having left school, initially followed his father into the family business as a stonemason and sculptor. However, he enjoyed little success in the business and instead turned his talents to architecture, which eventually proved to be a more profitable and successful career.

 

Site of Forest House, Love Street

Fortunately for Taylor, his clients tended to be some of the most important and influential people in society, which inevitably resulted in him being awarded some of the most sought after architectural commissions of the time. Additionally, these contacts also led to him being appointed to at least two important public offices, architect to the Bank of England and architect of the King’s Works. Some of his most notable pupils included John Nash, George Byfield and William Pilkington. 

 

Taylor has been credited by some with designing “Forest House” in Chester’s Foregate Street which was reported to have been built for the Barnston family of Crewe around 1759. However, a number of other architectural sources have dismissed the idea of the property being the architect’s work, most notably because of its age and design. Elsewhere in the city though, Taylor is thought to be responsible for the design of the former Bishop’s Palace that once occupied the site, which is now inhabited by Sir Arthur Blomfield’s King School buildings that now houses a branch of Barclay’s Bank.

 

William Cole Junior (1800 – 1892)

 

Reportedly born in Chester, William Cole Junior was thought to be the son of another William Cole who was also an architect in the city. However, William Junior was said to be a pupil of Thomas Harrison and the man credited by some with completing his former masters Grosvenor Bridge, although the names of both James Trubshaw and Jesse Hartley have been attributed to the completed single span river crossing. At the time of its completion, this second Dee bridge was reported to be the widest stone arch in the world and was officially opened by the then Princess Victoria in 1831.

 

St Bridget's Illustration

Possibly one of his earliest commissions in the city was the enlargement and restoration of St Oswald’s Chapel, in Chester’s great former Norman Abbey, which he undertook during 1826. Records tend to suggest that many of William’s commissions were in fact funded by either local councils or the church authorities, although he was occasionally employed by individual landowners, such as the Egerton family at Tatton Park. 

 

William is also credited with designing the core buildings of the then newly constructed Chester Lunatic Asylum in 1829 and is noted as being the “County Architect” of the time. Built on ten acres of land purchased from the Reverend Sir Philip Egerton, a Baronet, the plans were drawn up by Cole, who had been selected by the County Magistrates to design the new building, but much of the day-to-day construction work was reportedly undertaken by a Mr W Quay of Neston. 

 

As has been previously mentioned, the now extinct St Bridget’s Church, which formerly occupied a site close to Thomas Harrison’s modern castle complex, has often been credited to the same master architect, but was probably designed by Cole around 1826. The foundation stone for this popular, but now extinct parish church was reportedly laid on the 27^th October 1827, but within 70 years the church was thought to have become unfashionable and was taken down for the second and final time in 1892, the same year that its architect departed this world.

 

William H Lynn (1829 – 1915)

 

Although William Henry Lynn is only credited with designing and constructing one single structure in the city, Chester’s Town Hall which was generally completed by 1869, is such a notable site that its architect should indeed be mentioned.

 

WH Lynn's Town Hall

William Henry Lynn was born in Belfast and as a 17-year-old was apprenticed to the noted Irish architect Sir Charles Lanyon who was so impressed by the young William that in 1854 he made Lynn a partner in his practice.

 

In 1872 however, Lynn was reported to have established his own practice in Belfast and set about designing buildings in his favoured modern Gothic and Italianate styles. Much favoured by a number of bank and civic committees, Lynn quickly established a reputation with the commercial, religious and community leaders of the city and was commissioned to design a number of the city’s landmark buildings.

 

Although primarily based within his home city, such was his success and confidence that he was also prepared to compete against his architectural contemporaries across the Irish Sea in the north of England. In 1862, Chester’s historic Exchange Building which served as the city’s Town Hall was destroyed by fire and the designs for its replacement was put out for competition. Lynn’s design which was reported to have been influenced by the medieval Cloth Hall at Ypres proved to be the winner of the contest and although delayed by a series of disputes with the men who were actually building it, the Town Hall was generally completed by 1869. Perhaps as a result of this commission and his ongoing work in Belfast Lynn was thought to have gained further work in mainland Britain, most notably in North Lancashire and Scotland.

 

Sir Arthur Blomfield (1829 – 1899)

 

The former Kings School Building (now Barclay’s Bank) in Northgate Street was thought to have been converted on the orders of the Dean of Chester’s Cathedral around 1875, which resulted in the junction of Northgate Street and St Werburgh Street being widened to its present extent.

 

The noted architect Sir Arthur William Blomfield was commissioned to undertake the work, no doubt aided by the fact that he was a highly experienced church architect and that his father, who had previously been the Bishop of Chester, later became the Bishop of London. Some five years after completing this particular project, the architect was reported to have returned to Chester Cathedral once again, this time to oversee restoration work within the Abbey, a commission that was thought to have lasted from 1882 through to 1887.

 

Arthur Blomfield had been born on 6^th March 1829 at Fulham Palace in London, the fourth son of Charles James Blomfield, the Bishop of London and who was later educated at Rugby School and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he received a BA in 1851 and an MA in 1854. By 1861 the architect was reported to have been elected as the President of the Architects Association and in 1883 became the architect to the Bank of England. He received his knighthood from the monarch in 1889 and finally passed away at the age of 70, on the 30^th October 1899.

 

In 1852 he was reported to have been articled to Philip Charles Hardwick and travelled throughout Europe in order to broaden both his horizons and his education. By 1856, the 27-year-old Arthur was thought to have established his own independent practice and no doubt helped by his family connections, within a relatively short time had gained himself a reputation as a leading architect, notably in the design and renovation of church buildings.

 

The King School for boys which had originally been founded by the Tudor monarch, Henry VIII, sometime after 1540 had previously occupied various locations within the cathedral buildings, including the former refectory of the earlier Norman Abbey. The King’s School building, designed in 1875 was thought to have fulfilled this particular role right through to the 1960’s, when the school was relocated to a new site on the Wrexham Road on the outskirts of the city.

 

Harry Beswick

 

Former Love Street School

Harry Beswick was reported to have been born in the city of Chester and began his architectural career with the noted local architect Thomas Meakin Lockwood. Beswick was said to have been heavily influenced by the style of his employer and those of his architectural contemporary John Douglas. The young architect was said to have adopted their styles in his early building commissions and between 1891 and 1897 was reported to have trained the nationally renowned architect Ormrod Maxwell Ayrton, who later designed the iconic Wembley Stadium with its famous twin towers. Beswick was appointed County Architect for Cheshire in 1895 and was reported to have been involved with the designs of a number of utilitarian buildings throughout the region, particularly schools and public buildings

 

Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811 – 1878)

 

Born at Cawcott in Buckinghamshire to a local builder, George Gilbert Scott was articled to architect James Edmeston from 1827 through to 1831 and later formed a partnership with W B Moffat, a joint architectural practice that would last for some 11 years.

 

Sir George Gilbert Scott

From 1845 onwards however, Scott was reported to have established his own independent practice, assisted by his two sons, George and John. His building designs were thought to be almost entirely in the Gothic style, characterised by its pointed arches, turrets, spires and buttresses, with many of his commissions involving the restoration of early Abbey’s, Cathedral’s, Churches, etc. Typically, many of his new building designs were generally commissioned by those that admired this particular style of architecture and who wanted their own projects to reflect the grandeur and ornamentation of the Gothic style, as was the case with his two most notable works, the Albert Memorial and St Pancras Station and its Hotel. Despite these successes though, within architectural circles, Scott’s designs were not always welcomed and in some cases were known to have caused a great deal of controversy, notably amongst the supporters of the Classical and Renaissance styles of architecture, who more than once accused Scott of ruining the historic fabric he had worked on.

 

Between 1868 and 1876 Scott undertook a series of restoration projects at Chester’s historic Cathedral, which many experts agree was the most dramatic alteration of the building since its foundation in the 11^th century. He was reported to have largely rebuilt the Lady Chapel and added the turrets, pinnacles and flying buttresses that adorn the Cathedral’s exterior, as well as re-facing much of its crumbling façade with sandstone blocks that were quarried at Runcorn. His most controversial restoration however, was thought to be the reconstruction of the east end of the Cathedral’s south choir aisle.

 

While working at Chester Scott was also credited with designing St Thomas of Canterbury Church which is located on Parkgate Road in Chester and constructed between 1869 and 1872.

 

Giles Gilbert Scott (1880 – 1960)

 

The grandson of Sir George Gilbert Scott, Giles Gilbert Scott was born in London on the 9^th November 1880, the third son of George Gilbert Scott Junior, who like his more famous father was also an architect. Unhappily for the family, George Junior was thought to have suffered severe mental health problems through the latter part of his life, which ultimately culminated in him committing suicide, reportedly at his own father’s St Pancras Station.

 

For the young Giles however, the illness and later loss of his father does not appear to have hindered his progress towards achieving the aim of following both his father and grandfather into the family business. Educated at Beaumont College, he was then articled to the architect Temple Lushington Moore in 1899, as was his brother Adrian.

 

Giles Gilbert Scott

Whilst living in Battersea in 1902, Giles entered a competition to design a new church in the city of Liverpool, although with little prospect of actually winning it, which much to his own surprise he did in the following year. Despite the success of his entry, as a relatively untested architect, the authorities in Liverpool were thought to have insisted that Scott work alongside a more established church designer, George Bodley. The two men did not get along, but Bodley’s unexpected death in 1907 left Scott alone to design the city’s new Anglican Cathedral, which was only finally consecrated in 1924 and not fully completed until 1978, some 18 years after Scott’s own death.

 

In the intervening years, he achieved even greater national distinction with two further landmark projects, Battersea Power Station and Britain’s iconic red telephone kiosk. In 1930, proposal’s to build a new power generating station at Battersea were tempered with a need to build a plant that was both efficient and generally acceptable to the people and the skyline of the capital city. Because of his architectural style which was thought to have mixed traditional Gothic with both modernism and utilitarianism, Scott was asked to help design an industrial building that was sympathetic to its background, but at the same time, be suitable for its original purpose.

 

Six years earlier, in 1924, the authorities were reported to have sought a new design for the capital’s phone booths, an earlier design having been rejected by them. Whether or not Scott could have ever expected that his highly functional telephone kiosk would eventually become an iconic symbol for everything English is unclear. Nonetheless, the bright red booths designed by the architect have remained a traditional feature of British life for the past 70-odd years and it is only with the advent of mobile communications that their future is now being reconsidered. 

 

In around 1913, Giles was reported to have undertaken a restoration project at Chester Cathedral, parts of which included the design of the “Rood” (Choir Screen), as well as the design of two of the “Reredos” (Altar Screen) which are part of two of the chapels located in the Cathedral’s south transept. As part of this same work, he has also been credited with designing the east window of the Cathedral’s refectory.

 

Richard Charles Hussey (1806 – 1887)

 

St John's Church

Born in 1806, the son of a Rector at Sandhurst in Kent, Richard Charles Hussey entered into a partnership with the noted designer Thomas Rickman in 1835 and continued the practice on his own, following Rickman’s retirement due to ill-health in 1838. A gifted artist as well as an architect, Hussey was said to have undertaken restoration work at Chester Cathedral between 1843 and 1844, reportedly in and around the Lady Chapel, during which, previously hidden Norman features was rediscovered and some decayed stonework was also removed. Later in his career, the same architect was thought to have undertaken more restorative work at the equally ancient St John’s Church in the city. 

 

James Strong

 

Former Fire Station Site

Reported to have been both a pupil and protégé of Chester’s John Douglas, Strong was said to have participated in the rebuilding of Shoemaker’s Row in Northgate Street, Chester, most notably at numbers 15 to 17 which were said to have replaced the much older “Cross Key’s” inn which had formerly occupied the site. His new building was said to have included a semi-circular window feature that the architect would later employ in his much more renowned, but long since demolished Chester Fire Station.

 

Strong’s picturesque Fire Station which occupied a site at the upper end of modern day Northgate Street and built around 1911, stood on the same spot as had the city’s earlier Potato Market. In later years Strong’s architectural designs were thought to have been used in the initial phases of the Lache housing estate in 1919, which centred around the present day Cliveden Road, Sunbury Crescent and Abingdon Crescent.

 

Walter Tapper (1861 – 1935)

 

Chester Newgate

Sir Walter Tapper was born at Bovey Tracey in Devon on the 20^th April 1861 and later became the chief assistant in the architectural firm of Bodley and Garner around 1882. In 1893 Tapper was thought to have entered into a partnership with J L Davenport and it was only in 1920 that he began to work with his son Michael, who would later complete many of Walter’s unfinished designs, including Chester’s Newgate. The architect was thought to favour the Gothic Revival style of architecture and he was said to have been extensively employed in the design and restoration of a number of churches and associated religious buildings.

 

His replica medieval gateway at Chester which was reported to have taken less than two years to complete is constructed of reinforced concrete and faced with sandstone that was quarried at Runcorn. The “New Gate” was reported to have been officially opened on 3^rd October 1938, almost three years after its creator had died, on the 21^st September 1935.

 

Ormrod Maxwell Ayrton

 

Ayrton's St Werburgh Street Buildings

Born in 1874 Ayrton is famed for his British Empire Exhibition Wembley Stadium of 1924 and his connection with the city of Chester is said to be very strong, having trained with local architect Harry Beswick between 1890 and 1897, before joining W A Pite in London around the same time and Edward Lutyens from 1897 to 1900. In 1905 Maxwell was recorded to have gone into partnership with Scottish born architect, John William Simpson and Ayrton was generally thought to have been responsible for the partnerships design work. In Chester his legacy remains in the form of St Werburgh’s Row, which sits facing the city’s historic Cathedral.