Old Bishop's Palace, Chester

Old Bishop’s Palace stands on a rise above The Groves and the River Dee in Chester. The building began in the early 1740s for Samuel Peploe, who was Bishop of Chester at the time. It was finished in 1751 and then enlarged later that century. In the 19th century further changes were made inside, though the outside stayed much as it looked in the 1700s. From 1865 it served as the official home of Chester’s bishops until the 1920s. After that it became a YMCA hostel, and in the early 1980s it was turned into offices. The palace is built in red brick with stone details and grey slate roofs. The main river front has eleven window bays, each storey lined with sash windows. A projecting section in the centre holds the main door on the ground floor. The inside features an open-well staircase with six flights and turned balusters. On the first floor a large room still shows an 18th-century decorated ceiling. The staircase balustrade was once Chinese Chippendale but has been replaced. Visitors walk past the river front and see the eleven-bay façade with its stone quoins and sash windows. Inside, the wide staircase rises through three storeys to the first-floor room with its ornate ceiling. The building sits high above the Groves, looking down on the Dee and the riverside path. The unchanged exterior gives a clear view of the 18th-century design.