Stanley Palace, Chester

Stanley Palace is at 83 Watergate Street in Chester. Built as a town house for Sir Peter Warburton in 1591, it has since been apartments, a boys' school, and a museum, and is now used as an office and meeting rooms. When Sir Peter Warburton died in 1621 the house was inherited by his daughter. She married Sir Thomas Stanley who gave his name to the house. After the Civil Wars James Stanley was held under arrest at the house, and transported to Bolton for execution.

Part of the house was demolished and the southwest wing was rebuilt in the early 18th century. The house then ceased to be a mansion house and by the early 19th century it had been divided into apartments and its condition was deteriorating. It was bought by the Chester Archaeological Society in 1865 and during the 1870s housed a boys' school. The building was sold to the 15th Earl of Derby in 1889. In the early 1920s the building contained "a museum of 1,000 curios". The house was given to Chester Corporation in 1928.