The vicarage and attached parish room were built to serve the parish of St Oswald and the church of St Thomas of Canterbury in 1880 to a design by John Douglas.[2] The building now houses the English Department of Chester University.[3] This vicarage replaced the former parish vicarages in Parsons Street (now Princess Street) and Leen Lane.[4]
Architecture
The building is constructed in red-brown brick with Westmorland green slate roofs. Its main front faces northeast. The left wing has two storeys; it protrudes forward with an apsidal end. Its lower storey contains a porch, with steps leading up to an arched door. To the right of this is a two-storeyed section with mullioned and transomed arched windows in the lower storey, and mullioned windows in the upper storey. Between these is a row of rectangular plaster panels. To the right of this is a two-storeyed projection, the upper storey being set back from the lower storey. A stair turret to the right of this has a pyramidal roof with a weather vane. The right bay has two storeys plus an attic gable. On the ground floor is a five-light mullioned and transomed window and above this is a five-light mullioned window. In the gable is a three-light window surrounded by lozenge panels and brick diapering. The parish room on the extreme right has three bays divided by buttresses and contains arched windows.[1]
