Dee House: An Investigation And Assessment Of The Early 18th-Century House And 19th-Century Convent School
Author(s): Matthew Withey, Adam Menuge
Dee House was probably built for the Comberbach family, around 1730 for James Comberbach (d.1737), a former mayor and alderman of Chester, but over the years has served as a family residence, a convent school and a telephone exchange The basic plan of the 18th-century house is intact. It consisted of a double-pile main block with a five-bay north front and a service range projecting westwards (extended by one bay during the later 19th century) from the rear half of the main block. Built of brick with red sandstone details, the house is three storeys high with cellars under the northern half of the main block. The principal reception rooms were on the ground floor in the eastern half of the main block, with smaller rooms in the western half being placed on either side of the large stair hall. The latter was the only space to be lit only from one of the end walls, where opportunities for windows were restricted by the presence of chimney stacks. The service range was lit from both the north and the south but any evidence for original windows in its western end has been lost.
- Report Number:
- 5/2016
- Series:
- Research Report
- Pages:
- 65
