22 Eastgate Street and 24, 26 and 28 Eastgate Row South

Details

This list entry was subjected to a Minor Enhancement on 19 February 2025 to update the description and add Source and reformat the text to current standards

SJ4066SE
595-1/4/178

CHESTER CITY (IM)
EASTGATE STREET AND ROW (South side)
No.22 Street and Nos.24, 26 & 28 Row

(Formerly Listed as: EASTGATE STREET Nos 22 & 24 Street & Nos 24-30 (even) Row)

28/07/55

GV
II

22 Eastgate Street and 24, 26 and 28 Eastgate Row South form an undercroft, Row and former townhouse, now (2024) an undercroft shop and Row shop with storage above. It is inscribed with the date ‘1610’, but was altered in the C18, and then comprehensively refurbished in around 1852 by the architect Thomas Mainwaring Penson for Hugh Grosvenor, the Second Marquis of Westminster. Penson was one of the leading figures of the Vernacular Revival in Chester, and this building may be the earliest example in the city. At the time of its construction, the Chester Archaeological Society hailed it as a ‘pioneer’ example of the restoration of a C17 vernacular building, and much of the structure behind the C19 facade is believed to be of 1610. Penson was later involved in the reconstruction of a number of other buildings on Eastgate Street, including The Crypt Building (28 Eastgate Street and 34 Eastgate Row South) and 36-38 Eastgate Street and 38-40 Eastgate Row South.

Although the Row kiosk is of the mid-C19, it is one of only three buildings (the others being 24 Eastgate Street and 30 Eastgate Row South, and 17-19 Lower Bridge Street) in the Chester Rows where the once-common practice of enclosing the space over the Row stallboard with a small cabin or ‘kiosk’, and retaining the Row walkway behind, has survived.

For much of the C20 the undercroft and Row shops, together with the undercroft of the adjacent building at 24 Eastgate Street, were occupied by a chemist. The undercroft to 22 Eastgate Street is open to 24 Eastgate Street, and in the early C21 the two undercroft shops were occupied by a single retailer. The building is timber-framed with plaster panels and a grey-slate roof with its ridge at right-angles to the street.

EXTERIOR: the building is of three storeys.

At street level there is a shopfront to the undercroft (dating to around 1900), which has a sandstone stallriser, a two-paned window, and pilasters with moulded arrises. There are six plaster panels above the shop window with scattered pargetting, including the Grosvenor portcullis and floral motifs. To the east is an embellished rainwater head with a square downpipe with a vine pattern. The pipe is inscribed ‘G.A.’ and has three lions passant on the hopper head. To the west is a flight of nine repaired stone steps that provide access to the Row.

The Row level has a jettied kiosk carried on a lion bracket to the west, and a shaped bracket to the east. The soffit under the kiosk has six plaster panels with scattered pargetting. The kiosk has timber framing and two three-paned windows to the front elevation. The Row walk continues behind it, and the Row has a shopfront.

The third storey is continuous with the kiosk front and has two 12-pane sash windows that appear to be C18. Above these, the front gable has a jetty beam (believed to be original), which is inscribed 16:CB:10. The gable has mid-C19 framing, moulded bargeboards, and a finial.

INTERIOR: the undercroft and Row shops are lined. Two small chambers above the Row kiosk and walkway have C19 moulded cornices. There is no third-storey floor above the Row-level shop, only the suspended C20 ceiling of the shop below, but there are C17 bay posts and, probably, roof trusses, and there is plastered timber framing in the adjacent passage. The rear rooms have mid-C19 brickwork and modern cladding.

Listing NGR: SJ4059666279

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

470215

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
C Hartwell, M Hyde, The Buildings of England: Cheshire, (2011)
Brown, A, The Rows of Chester: The Chester Rows Research Project, (1999), p110; p172
Journal of the Chester Archaeological Society in Chester 1851 to 1857, (), 184

Other
Cheshire Records Office, reference: ZDS/3/338
Kelly's Directory of Cheshire (1902).
Kelly's Directory of Cheshire (1910).

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