Description

CHESTER CITY (IM)

SJ4066SE ST WERBURGH STREET
595-1/4/351 (South West side)
13/09/90 Nos.33-49 AND 49A (Odd)
St Werburgh Row and Clemence House
(Formerly Listed as:
ST WERBURGH STREET
St Werburgh Row Nos 33-49 (odd) &
49A and Clemence House)

GV II

Range of shops and offices. 1935. By Maxwell Ayrton. For the
Hodkinson Trustees, probably of the late GE Hodkinson.
Rendered brick, yellow sandstone, granite, brick and
reinforced concrete with Westmorland green slate roof, the
main ridge parallel with the front. Free style.
EXTERIOR: one storey south, 3 storeys central portion, 2
storeys north. A recessed 14-bay colonnade to the front has
slightly fluted Roman Doric columns of pebbly concrete on
plain square plinths. The south 3 bays curve outward with the
roof, hipped at the end, carried on the curved colonnade; the
next 3 bays are 3-storey with 2 separated front gables, that
to the north sweeping down to the eaves of the 2-storey
portion. The north end is linked to Clemence House.
The south shop, of 3 bays, has 2 windows, each with one large
pane beneath the transom and 4 small panes above it; the
round-arched doorway in a black wall has 4 flush panels with
incised margins. The next four office-and shop bays have
modern plate-glass doors and frameless square-bay windows in
granite surrounds; then a brick bay with round-arched double
doors, each leaf having 4 flush panels with incised margins.
The next 4 office-and-shop bays are plate glass and granite.
The shop in the 2 northern bays has a varnished timber and
glass front with a small-pane door, plus a similar window in
the north return which terminates against a projecting
buttressed sandstone wall containing a hollow-chamfered round
archway to Clemence House's forecourt; the wall rises to form
the gabled stepped parapet to the north-west end of the roof;
the face of the buttress is inscribed GEH 1935 and MAXWELL
AYRTON ARCHITECT. The colonnade has a scarf-jointed bressumer,
stop-chamfered cross-beams and square joists.
The upper storey casements of 6-pane lights stand proud of the
wall-face on shaped timber brackets: the second storey has a
2-light casement between a pair of 2;3;2 light mullioned
casements in the 3-storey portion and 3 similar 2;3;2 light
casements in the 2-storey portion; the third storey has a

composite window of one, 2 and one lights between a pair of
1;3;1 light casements, each under one of the front gables. A
rendered brick 2-flue chimney stands behind the 3-storey
ridge; the roof-valleys are swept; square rainwater pipes form
a feature of the upper storeys, but are taken internally
behind the colonnade.
The front of Clemence House and its link-wall to St Werburgh's
Row are of yellow sandstone, toothed into the rendered return
of the Row's north end. The link wall has a cast-iron gate in
a round-arched entry to the rear access way; the entrance to
Clemence House is in a broader hollow-chamfered round archway;
the second storey has a 3-light window with chamfered mullions
and transom and basket-arched upper lights. The yellow brick
rear wall of St Werburgh's Row is featureless and the altered
rear portion of Clemence House is of no interest.
INTERIORS are not of special interest.
In a key position facing the Cathedral Close, in composition
and detailing this item is a significant piece of townscape.
(Improvement Committee Minutes: Chester City Council:
6/9/1934).

Listing NGR: SJ4053466422

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26656972

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

• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)