Number 41 Street Numbers 51 and 53 Row Bishop Lloyds House

Details

CHESTER CITY (IM)

SJ4066SW WATERGATE STREET AND ROW 595-1/3/394 (South side) 28/07/55 No.41 Street and Nos.51 & 53 Row (Bishop Lloyd's House) (Formerly Listed as: WATERGATE STREET No.41 Street & Nos.51 & 53 Row (Bishop Lloyd's House))

GV I

2 medieval undercrofts beneath 2 town houses, now shops, meeting rooms and flat. Rebuilt early C17 and heavily restored 1890s by TM Lockwood. Sandstone; timber frames with panels of brick, carved oak and plaster; slate roofs. EXTERIOR: 3 storeys including Street and Row levels, plus attic. Each tenement, with gable to front, is symmetrical above the Row bressumers, of vernacular and Vernacular Revival character, with some Classical detail. No.53 (right), dated 1615, bears evidence of George Lloyd, Bishop of Sodor and Man 1599-1605 and of Chester 1605 to 1615, the year of his death. No.51 was refronted by TM Lockwood c1890, reflecting the composition of No.53; the following description distinguishes the 2 former tenements. Front of left undercroft and No.51 Row: Lockwood replaced the Row stallboard with stone steps parallel with the street, and a landing to right, and repositioned the Row-front posts supporting the chamber above. The steps have a wrought-iron railing, the landing and Row an oak handrail on shaped splat balusters; spiral-moulded colonnette below each end of the landing. The Row has a pier of stone and brick, left, faced with a spiral-moulded colonnette on a corbel. A late C19 Row post at each end of the landing, with colonnette, has a Jacobean post behind with brackets shaped as bearded giants, beasts and an owl; Lockwood added lighter brackets shaped as figures. The shopfront is modern. The bressumer above the Row, sloping with the street, has dentil arris and a patterned face. The third storey is divided into 3 bays by oak pilasters of Jacobean classical form. 10 small panels separate the bressumer and the chamber window which has 2 moulded mullions and 2 transoms in each bay, with shaped leaded glazing. Above the window is a band of plaster, then a slightly jettied tie-beam with dentil arris and criss-cross decoration. The 3-light mullioned attic window stands proud of the small-framed gable. The bargeboards have carved cornices and an ornate bargepost.

Front of right undercroft and No.53 Row: 4 piers at street level have spiral-moulded colonnettes to front, on carved-head corbels; central doorway; inserted 18-pane bow window to each side. Above each pier is a late C19 Row-post with similar colonnette; Jacobean posts behind have bearded giants, beasts and an owl as brackets; oak rail on shaped splat balusters. Modern shopfront to Row. Bressumer to Row has dentil arris and richly patterned face. A row of 8 recessed panels between bressumer and chamber window has the arms of James I with inscription, the arms of Sodor and Man and the date 1615, with 3 Biblical scenes to left and 2 to right. The tripartite chamber window has 4 oak pilasters of Classical derivation; 2 moulded mullions and a transom in each bay and shaped leaded glazing. The ornately-patterned jetty beam above the window has a carved-head bracket at each end. Between the jetty and tie-beam is a row of 10 arched and carved panels, with 3 panels to each side of the 3-light attic window above; the subjects, largely beasts, appear heraldic. Above the window are small-framed plaster panels; the bargeboards have carved cornices; the bargepost is ornate. All windows were heavily restored or replaced by Thomas Lockwood, 1890s. INTERIOR: the 2 undercrofts have probably medieval walls of coursed rubble sandstone; brick barrel-vaults, probably C18. At Row level most surfaces in the east house are covered; full height panels in east wall; 2 chamfered cross-beams have covered surfaces. The west house, with modern brick partitions, has no visible features of interest. The stair to the third storey has Chinese-influenced balustrade and vase-splat balusters to the landing; strapwork plaster ceiling with cornice of Classical derivation over landing, cloakroom and ladies' lavatory. Broad oak door of 2 rows of 3 panels on big HL hinges to east chamber; oak bolection-moulded fielded panels, a row below dado and a tall row above it; fire surround has entablature, with prominent keystone, on Doric columns; panelled overmantel of plaster or stone has eagles in curved broken entablature; iron fireplace; frieze to west wall has running foliar decoration; plaster ceiling has oval, square and lozenge panels containing raised decoration; 8-panel door on HL hinges to west chamber. The west house has landing-window and altered 6-panel double doors to chamber by Lockwood; small-framing and fragments of tie-beam and rafter at junction between the 2 houses. The chamber has vigorously-expressed C17 fireplace and overmantel, incorrectly Classical, having arched central panel with Cupid riding a lion in Arcadian setting; 3 chamfered beams, the front and middle ones moulded, on decorated corbels, west; small frieze, east; vigorous frieze with sea-monsters, west, partly hidden

by small-panelling; recess with repositioned oak lintel south of fireplace; moulded plaster ceiling panels. The flat (No.51A) in the attic storey gives access to the stair, now bolted off from the third storey; of 3 flights, it has closed string, fluted square newels and 2 balusters with spiral-moulded shafts-on- vases per step, carrying a heavy swept handrail, all oak, with softwood steps probably inserted. The portion of the flat over No.51 has plain steeply-pitched principal rafters, purlins and diagonally-set ridge, all of oak, carrying through from front to rear gable; the floor plan is altered. The portion above No.53 has a front and middle chamber, a stair bay and a closet, now bathroom, with extension for present stair at rear. An arch-braced truss between the front and middle chambers now partly filled with small-framing suggests a former open hall or upper hall; the chamfered purlins have C17 decorated plaster covering; the ceilings of chambers, stair-bay and closet have reeded plaster margins and plaster decorative moulded features of C17 character. (Chester Rows Research Project: Brown AN & Grenville JC & Turner RC: Watergate Street: Chester: 1988-: 5,11,20,30).



Listing NGR: SJ4040066232

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