Fosters Chambers
FOSTERS CHAMBERS, 16 AND 17, SMALL STREET
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1293237
- Date first listed:
- 08-Jan-1959
- List Entry Name:
- Fosters Chambers
- Statutory Address:
- FOSTERS CHAMBERS, 16 AND 17, SMALL STREET
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 1999-10-03
- Reference:
- IOE01/01089/35
- Rights:
- © Mr Peter Frederick Rushby. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1293237
- Date first listed:
- 08-Jan-1959
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 30-Dec-1994
- List Entry Name:
- Fosters Chambers
- Statutory Address 1:
- FOSTERS CHAMBERS, 16 AND 17, SMALL STREET
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- FOSTERS CHAMBERS, 16 AND 17, SMALL STREET
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- City of Bristol (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- ST 58766 73089
Details
BRISTOL
ST5873SE SMALL STREET, Centre 901-1/11/629 (North East side) 08/01/59 Nos.16 AND 17 Fosters Chambers (Formerly Listed as: SMALL STREET (North East side) Nos.16 AND 17)
GV II
Pair of attached houses, now offices and restaurant. Formerly a C15 banqueting hall, possibly late C17 front with C18 fenestration, c1846 right-hand elevation by RS Pope and mid C20 ground-floor front. Limestone ashlar ground floor, render above, random limestone ashlar right-hand return, ashlar right-hand exterior stack and double Roman cross gabled and mansard roof. Double-depth plan. 3 storeys, attic and double basement; 4-window range. A symmetrical front has 2 gables, with paired semicircular-arched dorways to the middle and C18-style shop fronts each side with shallow bowed windows set flush with glazing bars, and basement doors below the left-hand one. Horned 6/6-pane sashes in flush frames, set in pairs to each gable, in a panel of raised roughcast with quoin-effect edges; small 2/2-pane attic sashes. The C19 right-hand return has an exterior stack with 3 octagonal moulded stacks to the left of a 4-centre arched doorway with a heavy plank door with moulded rails and strap hinges, a label mould to head stops and foliate spandrels, and FOSTERS CHAMBERS over the doorway. A first-floor arcade of small 4-centre arched windows, and third-floor 5-light mullion window with C20 casements. In the left return is a ground floor C17 two-light mullion window with splayed surround. INTERIOR: formerly a C15 banqueting hall with hammer-beam roof, now gone: some timbers survive with ovolo-moulded possible door frame set in the arched vaults to the rear on the ground floor. Below are three C15 segmental-arched vaults running back from the pavement, with a small lower vault toward the rear. The C19 Chambers has an entrance to a C18-style dogleg stair with stick balusters, column newels and ramped moulded rail. HISTORICAL NOTE: the house of John Foster, Mayor of Bristol 1481, founder of Foster's Almshouses and Chapel of the Three Kings of Cologne. The right-hand return in the manner of the neighbouring Guildhall rebuilt to form an enclosed space in front of it. Much restored externally and altered internally. (Gomme A: Street Index of Buildings of Architectural or Historic Interest: 62).
Listing NGR: ST5876673089
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 380558
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Gomme, A, Street Index of Buildings of Architectural or Historic Interest, (), 62
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 03-Jun-2026 at 22:25:56.
Download a full scale map (PDF)© Crown copyright [and database rights] 2026. OS AC0000815036. All rights reserved. Ordnance Survey Licence number 100024900.© British Crown and SeaZone Solutions Limited 2026. All rights reserved. Licence number 102006.006.
End of official list entry