The ante-rooms, though of similar proportions, are differently decorated; the ceiling of each is covered with a delicate pattern of tracery, and both are superbly furnished. The windows are composed of stained glass, representing the figures and arms of six of the Earls of Chester.
The ante-dining-room is a handsome apartment, recently decorated in the Alhambresque style, by Mr. Morris, though with less elaborate finish than the saloon.
The dining-room is well proportioned, being 50 feet by 37 feet. The simplicity of its design is not owing to any deficiency of ornament; on the contrary, its several enrichments are gorgeous; but in comparison with the other state apartments, which are profusely decorated, it is characterized by a simplicity peculiarly elegant. Springing from the corners of the room, four ribs extend their ramified tracery over the ceiling, in the centre of which their borders of wreathed foliage unite, and thence from a richly carved boss is suspended a large and noble chandelier. The sideboard stands in an arched and highly enriched recess, and placed at each end of the room are two canopied niches, containing statues by Westmacott. At the lower end are those of Sir Robert le Grosvenor, who distinguished himself in the crusades, and of Mary, Lady Grosvenor at the time of the Revolution. Those at the upper end of the room represent Sir Gilbert le Grosvenor, who came over from France at the time of the Norman invasion, with his uncle, Hugh Lupus, and Joan or Jane Lady Grosvenor, heiress of Eaton in the reign of Edward the Fourth. The room contains full-length portraits of the late Marquis and Marchioness of Westminster, by Jackson, R.A.; Abigail meeting David, by Rubens; and the Judgment of Paris, after Rubens, by Peters. The walls of the dining-room are richly ornamented.
The ante-drawing-room is very elegant; its decorations, in the Alhambresque style, are peculiarly rich. It contains three most beautiful bookcases, chaste in design and exquisitely finished.
The drawing-room has four magnificent niches, and a noble window with a lofty pointed arch and tracery of rich and beautiful forms, adorned with stained glass. It is placed at the end opposite the entrance, and commands a fine prospect, the inlet of the Dee forming a conspicuous object in the landscape. The pattern of the ceiling, which is decorated with compartments numerously subdivided and intersected, is formed in four divisions issuing from clustered pillars with foliated capitals, and united in the centre to an hexagonal frame, elaborately reticulated, from which issues a pendant of foliage sustaining a superb chandelier of crystal. The number and variety of the carved knots and foliage add to the beauty of the ceiling; but the decorations that increase its effect, and are indeed its most prominent attractions, are the shields on which the heraldic achievements of the various branches of the Grosvenor family are emblazoned. The pale hue of the ceiling, the gorgeous decorations in the centre, and the rich glow of the crimson velvet with which the walls of this noble apartment are covered, all combine to render it a scene of unsurpassed magnificence. Corresponding in costly embellishment with its architecture is the furniture, of blue satin, fringed with yellow silk, crimson velvet, and damask satin. Over the chimney-piece, which is carved in statuary marble, is a lofty mirror in an arched frame, sufficiently broad to admit a pattern of tracery, on the compartments of which crimson velvet is introduced with happy effect. This splendid apartment contains the following pictures:—Judith with the head of Holofernes, Guercino—Reuben showing to Jacob the bloody garment of his son Joseph, also by Guercino—Antiochus and Stratonice, Pietro de Cortona—Christ and the Woman of Samaria, Mignard—Jacob blessing Ephraim and Manasseh, West—Elijah raising the Widow’s Son, also by West.
The library comprehends the whole of the south wing, and is the most spacious room in the mansion; it varies in breadth, but is 120 feet long. The bookcases are of rich carved oak, and the windows are ornamented with tracery and stained glass. When the door is thrown open, the view from the further end of the library is continued through the vaulted corridor at the opposite extremity of the house, a length of 480 feet. A very rare piece of antiquity is preserved in the library, it is a gold torque, an ornament of dignity worn by the ancient Britons; it is wreathed, the rods are linked together in a circle, and it measures 10 or 11 inches in diameter. The library contains many most valuable and rare books and MSS., among which may be mentioned—a copy of the chronicle of Henry of Huntingdon, in which is a curious drawing of the entry of King Stephen into Lincoln; an illuminated MS. on vellum, containing the proceedings of the celebrated suit of arms between Scroope and Grosvenor; and (among other Cheshire MSS.) one volume of collections, containing a transcript of a large portion of the celebrated and lost record, distinguished by the name of “The Cheshire Doomsday;” also the confirmation charter of Chester Cathedral, by the second Ranulf, surnamed De Gernon or Gernons, Earl of Chester, in which the grant of Hugh Lupus is recapitulated.
The great staircase is very richly decorated: at the top of the first flight of stairs are three niches with statues. On the opposite side, at the foot of the stairs, is an arcade supporting the upper floor; and from these arches, which have open spandrils, the best view of this magnificent staircase is obtained.
The state bed-room is an elegant apartment; the ceiling is vaulted, and the bed is of mahogany, and groined; its principal carved ornaments appear on clustered pillars, detached from the corners. The sofas are of blue satin, in richly carved and gilt frames, and the other seats are covered in finely-wrought needlework of various colours. Over the chimney-piece is a mirror, the frame of which is composed of handsomely-clustered pillars, pinnacles, and crocketed canopies, the whole being richly decorated with gilding, and minutely carved.
The tenants’ hall is under the library, and corresponds with it in extent. The windows are enriched with tracery, and four massive clustered pillars sustain the arches and groins of the ceding, which is remarkably flat, when the breadth of its span is taken into consideration.
The chapel is a small, beautifully-proportioned edifice. The windows are beautifully ornamented with stained glass, the work of Mr. Ballantine, of Edinburgh.