5, 7 and 9 Northgate Street

Details

This list entry was subjected to a Minor Enhancement 10 December 2024 to Update Name, Address and Details, add Selected Sources and reformat the text to current standards

SJ4066SE
595-1/4/278

CHESTER CITY (IM)
NORTHGATE STREET
Nos.5, 7 and 9

(Formerly listed as NORTHGATE STREET AND ROW (West side) Nos.5, 7 & 9 Street, previously listed as NORTHGATE STREET (West side) Nos 5-9 (odd) Row)

10/01/72

GV
II*

5, 7 and 9 Northgate Street were built as a range of three properties in 1900, replacing three medieval plots, as part of the reconstruction of a group of buildings known as ‘Shoemakers’ Row’ (3 to 31 Northgate Street) between 1897 and 1909. The redevelopment of the Row was prompted by concerns over insanitary conditions in the congested Northgate area, alongside a renewed interest in the vernacular style, and was carried out as part of a municipal road widening project at the end of the C19. The building was designed by their owner and architect, John Douglas, in the Vernacular Revival style. Douglas (1830-1911) was prolific across the region and known for his ‘Old English’ style of half-timbered domestic work. He also acted as architect on several other buildings in the Shoemakers’ Row redevelopment. Number 9 was partially rebuilt in 1914 following fire damage and is recorded as having retained evidence of its earlier undercroft. Together with 11-31 Northgate Street (odd), they form a group of Vernacular Revival buildings, which includes shops by Harry Beswick, County Architect for Chester 1895-1926, and James Strong. The building comprises three street level shops with accommodation above. Number 9 is now part of a larger shop that extends into 11 to 13 Northgate Street. It is timber framed with plaster panels and has a slate roof with gables to the street.

EXTERIOR: the building is of two storeys with cellars and is built in a late-C16 style.

The street level has an arcade of six bays, raised two steps above the level of the pavement, with moulded timber posts on shaped sandstone plinths and three-centred timber arches with richly-carved spandrels and central keys. The shopfronts are modern. Above the arcade is a bressumer carved with a running pattern which is dated 1900.

The upper storey has shaped plaster panels beneath two canted oriel windows of five lights to each shop, with shaped mullions and moulded transoms. Each window is carried on four brackets set on a carved panel and has leaded glazing with shaped panes and ogee heads to the upper lights surmounted by richly-carved panels. There is a niche between the two oriels of each shop which contain a carved figure: Justitia on number 5, St Crispin on number 7, and Hugh Lupus on number 9.

The three jettied gables have carved bressumers carried on shaped brackets and each has shaped panels, carved bargeboards and ornate finials. The rear of the buildings is concealed.

INTERIORS: 5 and 7 Northgate Street have cellars that have succeeded the former undercrofts. Number 9 has brickwork evidence of a partly medieval undercroft.

Listing NGR: SJ 40518 66339

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

470331

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
C Hartwell, M Hyde, The Buildings of England: Cheshire, (2011), p267
Brown, A, The Rows of Chester: The Chester Rows Research Project, (1999), p123, 174

Websites
Information on John Douglas from A Biographical Dictionary of the Architects of Greater Manchester, accessed 2 March 2023 from https://manchestervictorianarchitects.org.uk/architects/john-douglas

Other
Chester City Council: Improvement Committee Minutes: MB (1899).

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