Building record 10506 - Chester Rows: 15-17 Northgate Street

No 15-17 Northgate Street consists of two three storey town houses rebuilt together in around 1900. The total width of the facade is 10.42m. There are two medieval undercrofts below street level now in use as cellars. At street level the two properties are currently in use as a single property with modern display windows and a central door. The Row walkway is approximately 2.52-2.69m wide with the upper floors supported by four square posts set on stone bases forming a three bay arcade. There are two steps up to the Row walkway along the entire frontage. The upper floors consist of two 10 pane oriel windows to the north and south with a 6 pane window in the central pane. Brackets at the bay posts support a continuous jetty at second floor level with a three pane window in each bay. Both floors have real and applied close studwork. The undercrofts, now in use as cellars, are medieval in origin and are accessed via a rock cut passage to the rear of No 17. No 15 is an almost square undercroft with medieval stonework in the south and rear walls, a 19th or 20th century front wall in brick and two modern central brick piers. No 17 is also square with medieval stonework in the north and rear walls and a partially surviving brick chamber of a 19th century date to the 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.