Description

CHESTER CITY (IM)

SJ4066SE BRIDGE STREET AND ROW
595-1/4/63 (East side)
10/01/72 No.23 Street and No.27 Row
(Formerly Listed as:
BRIDGE STREET
No.23 Street & No.27 Row)

GV II*

Undercroft and town house, now undercroft office, Row shop and
upper storeys partly in office use. Probably early-mid C14;
1804; altered C20. Flemish bond brown brick, grey slate roof
with ridge at right-angle to street, hipped to front.
EXTERIOR: 4 storeys, one bay. Modern office front to street;
brick north pier; brick pier probably of sandstone, rendered;
a fascia covers the bressumer. The cast-iron Row-front rail
has bottom rail, stick balusters and plain top-rail; brick
north pier, rendered south pier; 2 cast-iron Roman Doric
intermediate columns; slightly sloped boarded stallboard 1.68m
from front to back; modern tiled surface to Row walk; modern
shopfront; covered door to rear passage, south; plaster
ceiling; wood fascia hides Row-top bressumer. The brick upper
storeys have painted stone sills and wedge lintels; 2 cross
casements to the third storey have a large pane to each lower
light and 6 panes to each upper light; 2 similar but shorter
fourth storey cross-casements have 4 panes in each upper
light; painted cornice and low stone parapet.
INTERIOR: the undercroft 3 steps down from the street has a
cased beam under back of stallboard, then 4 cross-beams each
on end-posts and 2 inserted intermediate posts cased in wood.
Flat oak joists have chamfers with stops visible at rear ends;
one joist in the second bay has both ends stopped; 2 in the
third bay have both ends of chamfers more simply stopped; a
suspended ceiling covers the joists in the fourth bay. The
sidewalls now covered, are stated to be sandstone, probably
medieval. The Row shop has all surfaces covered. A Row door,
now covered, with substantial architrave in the rear passage
leads to the third and fourth storeys; as is common east of
Bridge Street; the upper storeys suggest either a former
courtyard house or a formerly separate rear dwelling. A late
C19 stair leads to the third storey, with a partly covered
sash with radial bars in the round arch at its head. A 6-panel
door leads to the front room, now partitioned, which has a
substantial skirting, a sub-panel to each window, a painted
C19 fireplace, north, and a plaster cornice; a lateral stair
behind the front room leading to the fourth storey has an open

string, simple shaped brackets, a slender turned newel,
covered treads, 2 stick balusters per step and a swept rail;
the next third storey room from the landing, through a basket
archway with pilasters, has a light-well above, and may have
been inserted; the third room has a concave corner chimney
breast, a cornice north and east and a ceiling rose; the
mildly Gothick fourth room has 2 sharply arched niches, a
broader 4-centred arched recess, a patterned cornice and a
recessed 12-pane sash.
The fourth storey front room has a blocked fireplace, north,
and a sub-panel to each window; the passage has a basket
archway with roll-moulded arrises to pilasters; the middle
room has a 6-panel door; the north back room has a blocked
corner fireplace and a sub-panel to the recessed 12-pane sash;
a 6-panel door to the south back room which has a simple
corner fireplace and a sub-panel to the recessed 12-pane sash.
The back passage and the rear, externally, have no visible
features of special interest.
The principle area of interest is the undercroft; it is
probable that there is more medieval structure than is now
visible.
(Chester Rows Research Project: Harris R: Archive, Bridge
Street East: 1989-).

Listing NGR: SJ4055866227

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17552139

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

• 
  For the Record
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)