Building record 10503 - Chester Rows: 3 Northgate Street

No 3 Northgate Street is a three storey town house built in 1899 of real and applied timber framing with stucco panels. The street level consists of a modern glass fronted building with a passage to the south. The interior is modern with an undercroft of modern stretcher bond brickwork below. The Row walkway is at ground level with an arcade of Ionic square fluted columns. The upper floors are timber framed with a large oriel window and first floor level with pargetted panels to the north and south and a date stone bearing the inscription ‘AD1899’ in the centre. The second floor has a jettied front with decorative barge boards at the base. The interior of the upper floors consists of a large open hall at first floor level with panelling and fireplaces to the north and south of a late 19th century date. 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.