Building record 10496 - Chester Rows: 12 Northgate Street

No 12 Northgate Street consists of a late 19th century building with significant alteration in the mid 20th century. The property is 9.60m (two bays) wide and is five storeys tall in total including the undercroft level and the four storey town house above. The facade is Vernacular Revival erected 1912 by R.W. Boden. The undercroft level has a modern facade with access to the Row level in the south side. The interior is unremarkable. The Row level frontage has a recessed off centre doorway and stud panels and nine pane windows to either side. The upper floors are timber framed with decorative applied studwork and a slight jetty on the second floor. The third floor is the gable end. The Row walkway consists of a Row walk widening from 1.42m in the south to 1.48m in the north and a stallboard widening from 1.52m to 1.58m. Both are covered in a bituminous substance. The upper floors are supported on stone piers and the north and south ends with central wooden posts. 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.