Building record 10458/1 - Chester Rows: 6-8 Watergate Street

<1> Chester Archaeology, 1985-1990, Chester Rows Research Project Archive, CHER 10458 (Paper Archive). SCH6789.

No 6-8 Watergate Street consists of two undercrofts of probable early 18th century date, currently used as shops. Substantial renovations to the undercrofts in the mid 1970s have removed all trace of earlier structural activity however a small section of rubble stone wall of possible medieval origin was noted.

Although they were originally built as two separate structures, the renovations have obliterated their original plan. A section of stonework in the rear of No 6 may represent the original back wall of the medieval undercroft set some 7.59m back from the street frontage.

Dimensions taken from the undercroft suggests the internal widths of the two properties were 3.36m in No 6 and 3.20m in No 8. The interior floor level is set 0.29m below present street level.

<2> Brown. A. (ed), 1999, The Rows of Chester: The Chester Rows Research Project (Book). SCH6790.

<3> Brown, A N, J C Grenville and R C Turner, 1990, Watergate Street The Rows Research Project (Unpublished Report). SCH6636.

<4> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

<5> Historic England, 2011, The National Heritage List for England, 1376421 (Web Site). SCH6528.

6 AND 8, WATERGATE STREET, 4, WATERGATE ROW. 2 undercrofts and town houses now offices. The front rebuilt early C19, the rear elevation mid C18 in character, the interior rebuilt as offices 1970s. Brown Flemish bond brick; slate roof, ridge parallel with street. EXTERIOR: 4 storeys including street and Row levels. Modern office front to street; brick end piers to Row; a slender central Tuscan column supports bressumer over Row; plain square-section iron railings; front of office to Row rebuilt; rear passage at west; two 20-pane sashes to each upper storey, with painted stone sills and skew-back flat brick arches; painted cornice. The rear elevation, c1750 was restored 1970s. It has a 6-panel door with looped radial-bar overlight in a reconstructed pilastered timber doorcase and two 16-pane sashes between door and rear passage; a moulded stone plinth; a one-course stringcourse on corbel bricks set diagonally at first floor; three 24-pane sashes to second storey; three 16-pane dwarf sashes to third storey; all sashes are flush, with replaced timber sills and cambered brick arches; stringcourse of 3 successively oversailing courses carries a low stone-capped brick parapet. INTERIOR: there are no visible internal features of interest, but some sections of probably late medieval rubble sandstone walling were noted in 1988.

<6> Henderson Heritage, 2024, Heritage Impact Statement: No. 6-8 Watergate Street, and No. 4 Watergate Row, Chester, R4799 (Client Report). SCH9669.

Heritage Impact Assessment produced in 2024 for No.6-8 Watergate Street and No. 4 Watergate Street Row. Formerly a townhouse with undercroft, and Rows level frontage. The building was in office use at the time of listing and more recently in use as Virgin Bank; it is presently used as a pop-up art gallery. The building has a primary frontage to Watergate Street, and a formal residential frontage to St Peter’s churchyard, the latter accessed via two alleys, one off Watergate Street Row and one off Northgate Street. The front elevation to Watergate Street has a character dating from the early 19th century, a modern shopfront of traditional character, and a modern Rows façade of no character. Internal features have been substantially remodelled in the mid to late 20th century. It has a mid-18th century appearance to the rear elevation. The building was first listed in 1955 and resurveyed in 2003.

The building’s significance is derived from its evidential, historic, aesthetic, and communal significance as a Georgian town house that has been substantially remodelled internally and to Rows level in the 1970’s. The building was erected or remodelled at a time of economic growth in Chester. The original remodelling/rebuilding in the 18th century was in response to fashionable architectural trends, expressed in a clear and simple architectural vocabulary dating from the Georgian period. Of historical interest is the remnants of the historic masonry below street level, in an assumed undercroft. Also of importance is its relationship with, and evolution with, the Rows. It has a strong relationship and context to the wider streetscape within a tight knit grain that contributes to group value, views, and vistas; and its historical and aesthetic value helps define its sense of place.