Description

This list entry was subjected to a Minor Enhancement 18 September 2024 to update name, address and details, add Source and reformat the text to current standards

SJ4066SE
595-1/4/56

CHESTER CITY (IM)
BRIDGE STREET
Nos. 3, 5 and 7

AND

BRIDGE STREET ROW EAST
Nos. 3, 5 and 7

(Formerly listed as BRIDGE STREET AND ROW (East side) Nos.3, 5 & 7 Street and Nos.3, 5 & 7 Row, previously listed as: BRIDGE STREET Nos.3-7 (odd) Street & Nos.3-7 (odd) Row)

10/01/72

GV
II

Number 3, 5 and 7 Bridge Street and 3, 5 and 7 Bridge Street Row East was built in 1889-90 as undercroft and Row shops, probably with accommodation above. It was designed by William M Boden who was responsible for a number of Chester buildings in this period, including number 49 Bridge Street and 57 and 57A Bridge Street Row East, and number 12-14 Northgate Street and 10-12 Northgate Row East. Boden was a pupil of Thomas Mainwaring Penson, who was influential in the development of the Vernacular Revival style in Chester in the mid-C19. The minutes from Chester City Council’s Improvement Committee record that ‘The old premises were constructed of [timber] and plaster about 4in. thick and, as space is very valuable, I [Bowden] propose to build all the partitions of 4.1/2in. Ruabon pressed bricks and hoop iron bands, using freely cast-iron joists and girders resting on strong pillars. The front wall below timber framing 9 in. thick and all basement walls 9 in.’

In 1902, the three undercroft shops were occupied by a pork butchers, a hairdresser and a tea and coffee dealer, while the Row shops were a drapers, a milliners and a wool shop. In 2023, the Row and undercroft shops were still six separate units occupied by a variety of retail and food businesses. The building is constructed of Ruabon brick with cast-iron and timber framing with plaster panels. It has a red-brown clay tile roof, the main ridge being parallel with the front.

EXTERIOR: the building is of four storeys, including an undercroft and Row level. It is symmetrical and of three bays.
The undercrofts have C20 shopfronts to the street.
The Row level has shaped splat balusters to the front opening, brick end-piers and two intermediate supports, which are probably cast-iron in square wooden cases with moulded capitals. There is a boarded sloped stallboard measuring 1.93m from front to back; and a boarded Row walkway. The Row has C20 shopfronts. To the Row opening, each bay has a timber four-centred ‘Tudor’ arch carried on stone corbels and the intermediate capitals, each with an ornate pendant.

The Row has shaped brackets which support a tiled lean-to roof to the third storey. This intersects three canted five-light mullioned oriel windows with concave sub-panels and leaded glazing above their transoms. The brickwork is constructed in a nine-inch English garden wall bond wall between and beside the oriels.

Four large shaped brackets support the jettied fourth storey. This has small framing and a projecting central bay with a four-light shallow oriel window on a concave sub-panel with leaded glazing above the transom. Each side bay has a shallow three-light canted oriel window under a gablet with a pair of curved braces and bargeboards. The central gable has a coved plastered jetty with a moulded tie-beam, S-curved herringbone struts, bargeboards and a shaped finial. There are three brick chimneys behind the ridge.

INTERIOR: the undercrofts have four steps down from the street to number 3 Bridge Street, five steps to number 5 and four to number 7. The interiors are lined. The upper storeys are planned around a central lightwell which is glazed above the Row storey.

Listing NGR: SJ4054166265

External Links

• Wikidata Q26656733

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)