59 Bridge Street and 67 and 69 Bridge Street Row East

Details

This list entry was subjected to a Minor Enhancement 18 September 2024 to update name, address and details, add Source and reformat the text to current standards

SJ4066SE
595-1/4/10005

BRIDGE STREET
No 59

AND

BRIDGE STREET ROW EAST
Nos 67 and 69

(Formerly listed as BRIDGE STREET ROW 59 Number 59 Street BRIDGE STREET ROW 67 AND 69 Number 67 and 69 Row)

30-JUN-00

GV
II

Number 59 Bridge Street and 67 and 69 Bridge Street Row East forms a late-C17 building comprising undercroft and Row shops with a former townhouse above. It was altered in the C18 and re-fronted in the mid-C20. During the C19 and early-C20 the undercroft and Row shops were in separate occupancy, with the street-level undercroft housing a chemists. The upper storeys of the building were re-fronted in the 1950s and the façade is an approximate replica of that shown in a drawing by artist George Batenham in 1816. The alterations retained the stallboard and Row walkway and the building continues to form part of the Chester Row system. In 2023, there were two separate shop units to the undercroft and Row and the upper floors were in residential use.

House and shop to ground and Row levels, forming part of the Chester Row system. The house was part empty at the time of inspection (May 2000). C17 incorporating earlier fabric, with C18 alteration, re-fronted late C20.

MATERIALS: red-brown brick, with that to the front elevation being of the late-C20. There is a Welsh slate roof covering.

PLAN: a linear narrow range which extends rearwards from the street frontage. The access to the upper floors (number 67 Bridge Street Row) is from the Row level, to the north of the Row shop. It extends four bays in depth to the rear (eastwards from the street frontage).

EXTERIOR: the building has a narrow frontage and is of four storeys including an undercroft and Row level, plus an attic. The undercroft has a shopfront to the street of the late C20. The Row has a late-C19 shopfront and in front there is a Row walkway.

The upper storeys have been re-fronted in late-C20 stretcher bond brickwork which incorporates flanking plain pilasters. There are re-used tripartite sash window frames to the third and fourth storeys and there is a single sash to the attic.

The rear elevation has a doorway at Row level which gives access to a rear yard and is above the rear gable of the main range. This has a transomed three-light window to the rear ground floor, tripartite sashes to the upper floors and a small sash window to the attic floor. To the left of the gable there is a narrow single bay extension below a monopitch roof. This incorporates blocked window openings.

INTERIOR: an C18 six-panelled door gives access to an entrance passage which leads to the stair hall to the right at the rear end, with a six-panelled door. There is a mid-C17 open well dog-leg stair with turned balusters, newel posts and a wide moulded handrail. The stair rises through all floors to the attic storey in the same form. Above the Row level are two further floors with a side corridor linking the rooms and the stair well. Above these is the open attic floor.

The third storey has large rooms to each end, that to the front (west) has plain boxed spine beams flanking a side wall hearth with an C18 surround. It also has a moulded plaster cornice and an C18 two-panelled door. A small room to the east has a two-panelled door and a small hearth with an overmantle shelf, below a spine beam with a moulded chamfer and stop which is set close to the line of the west partition wall. The eastern end room, beyond the stairwell, has chamfered spine beams flanking a small hearth with a C19 surround, and a section of square panelling with an integral panelled door to the south-eastern corner. A curved partition to the north-eastern corner with a two- panelled door gives access to the rear extension.

The fourth floor has a similar linear plan form. The west room has deeply moulded and stopped spine beams, a moulded cornice and an C18 surround to a side wall hearth. A smaller room to the east has a deeply-moulded spine beam and a late-C17 hearth with a moulded surround and overmantle. The latter has pilasters with moulded capitals and a frieze enclosing a central fielded panel. The east wall has a window onto an enclosed light well to the rear of the stair well. The eastern end room has a two-panelled door, two spine beams, one of which is chamfered and stopped and the other is boxed, with a moulded cornice. There is a shallow arch-headed recess to the south east corner with C19 panelled doors. A curved partition to the north-eastern corner has dado panelling.

The attic floor has a double purlin roof and partitions which conceal the supporting roof trusses. The stair well head has turned balusters to the upper balustrade and there is a small flanking chamber to its north side. The eastern end room has been partially underdrawn at the upper purlin level. The west end room has exposed rafters and a diagonally set ridge purlin. There are wide floorboards throughout the attic storey. The building forms a re-fronted C17 house, with C18 interior remodelling and displays the distinctive elevational and plan form characteristics of the Chester Row townhouses, retaining much good quality interior detail.

Listing NGR: SJ4057766124

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

487924

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Brown, A, The Rows of Chester: The Chester Rows Research Project in English Heritage Archaeological Report, (1999), p 160

Other
Post Office Directory of Cheshire (1857)
Post Office Directory of Cheshire (1878)
Kelly's Directory of Cheshire (1902)
Kelly's Directory of Cheshire (1910)

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