Building record 10476/2 - Chester Rows: 17 Watergate Street Row

No 17 Watergate Street Row is an 18th century three storey town house, currently in use as a Row shop. The town house was probably rebuilt in 1771 using brown brick with a slate roof. The Row level shop front is late 19th century with a passage to the left running through the length of the building. The internal arrangement of the Row level has been altered, however, and the original plan of the small shop front is only implied in the existing layout. To the rear of the Row level is a large hall with well made open staircase and entrance from passageway. There are few original features in the upper two floors. The upper floors are supported by cast iron Tuscan columns at the centre of the Row front. 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.