Building record 10474/2 - Chester Rows: 11a Watergate Street Row God's Providence House

No 11a Watergate Street Row dates largely to 1862 when a new building was designed by James Harrison to replace the earlier structure. The facade replicated the original design including the inscription 'God's Providence is mine Inheritance', said to be in thanks for deliverance from the plague of 1647-8. The building is a three storey town house with modern shop front. The shop at Row level has a painted stop-chamfered beam and a simple frieze with picture rail and cornice. The front facade is elaborate with recessed plaster panels, ornate bargeboarding and central finial and a row of quatrefoils at roof level. The plaster panels are a 19th century addition not present on the earlier structure. The traditional arrangement on the Rows consisted of a single storey stone undercroft at street level and a Row level building over it. Above the undercroft, the Row level building was more often timber built and consisted of a 'Row' level storey incorporating the Row walkway or stallboard extending over the frontage of the undercroft (this allowed extra head room for the undercroft and additional space for traders on the stallboards). The Row walkway was approximately 4-6m in width and incorporated the path and the stallboards themselves. The Row level storey formed the medieval shop opening onto the Row walkway. Due to differences in ground level between the front and back of the plots, the undercroft is at street level at the front and the Row level storey at ground level to the rear. The Row building also often included at least one further storey above it that extended forward again over the Row walkway. The upper floors were private, domestic quarters. The Rows are believed to be of medieval origin, dating at least to the 13th century followed by a gradual evolution of built form over a period of perhaps 100 years to create the present elements of undercroft, Row walkway and Row building. Survival of the built form of the Rows varies considerably and different elements of a single building can vary enormously in date from the 13th century through to the 20th century.