It became the official residence of the bishops of Chester in 1865, and continued to be used for this purpose until the 1920s.

[2] The palace is constructed in red brick with stone dressings and has grey slate roofs.

The front of the main block facing the river has eleven bays with rusticated quoins at the corners.

The fourth to sixth bays form a canted projection rising through the three storeys containing the entrance door in the ground floor.

Above the upper storey is a stone cornice and a brick coped parapet.