Listed Building: NUMBERS 22 AND 24 STREET (1376345)

CHESTER CITY (IM) SJ4066SE NORTHGATE STREET AND ROW 595-1/4/310 (East side) Nos.22 & 24 Street GV II 2 medieval undercrofts altered C18 and later and a town house rebuilt probably C18 and c1840; converted to electricity showrooms and offices 1924 by PH Lawson for Chester City Council, William Vernon and Sons Ltd, builders, contract sum »390; the lower 2 storeys refronted the offices moved out and the showrooms enlarged 1930 by FC Saxon, William Vernon and Sons builders, contract sum »3,980; refurbished internally 1989-90 for the Merseyside and North Wales Electricity Board, Leonard Fairclough Ltd., builder. Brown brick, Flemish bond to front; grey slate roof. EXTERIOR: cellars and 4 storeys. Up to 1924 the frontage to Northgate Street was similar in form to Nos 44 & 46, Nos 48 & 50 and Nos 54 & 56 Watergate Street (qv) with steps to the former Row level in a tall recessed porch; the porch was taken out in 1924 or 1930, but the face to the upper 2 storeys is probably early C19, as shown in engraving by G Batenham, c1820. The facade of the lower 2 storeys, is a rare survival of the front of an inter-war municipal electricity showroom: reconstructed stone surround, with corrugated outer moulding is inscribed CITY OF CHESTER in raised Roman caps; the street-level shopfront is replaced; the second-storey showroom has a continuous window of 5 lights with raised serpentine mouldings on the face of the painted metal pilaster mullions; the moulded metal sill is largely concealed behind the modern shop fascia. The third storey has a plain sillband, a central 12-pane recessed sash in a stucco architrave and a tripartite sash of 4:12:4 panes to each side with a stucco-faced wedge lintel. The fourth storey is similar, but with painted stone sills, a central sash of 9 panes and tripartite sashes of 3:9:3 panes. The parapet has a moulded cornice. At the rear the 2 lower storeys are extended backward; the rear gable of the upper storeys has 2 replaced windows per storey, largely in Georgian openings; there is a former loading-eye in the gable. INTERIOR: 2 parallel undercrofts, now cellars, have medieval side, party and front walls of coursed rubble sandstone; the party wall is 0.85m thick; C18 brick barrel vaults running back from the street. The south undercroft, now 6.5 x 4.0m, has a central front opening, altered; the north undercroft, now 6.5 x 4m, has medieval jambs to the central front opening. Each undercroft probably had its own steps to the street, later replaced by a small chamber encroaching on the street. To the rear the party wall and barrel vaults are removed and the faces of the side walls concealed. No internal features of special interest were identified above the former undercrofts. (Chester Rows Research Project: Harris R: Northgate Street: 1989-; Electricity Committee Minutes: Chester City Council: 8/7/1924 & 7/1/1930). Listing NGR: SJ4054566364