Building record 10514 - Chester Rows: 5-7 Eastgate Street (Dark Row)

No 5-7 Eastgate Street is a 19th century Row town house of four floors including the undercroft at street level. There were previously two undercrofts, now renovated as a single shop. The facade is heavy pseudo timber framing in black and white at Row level and above. The floor above the Row level jetties out, above which is 19th century studwork. The Dark Row is a free standing section of Row buildings consisting of an undercroft with a narrow Row town house above separate from the town houses to the rear. Known previously as the Buttershops, the Cook’s Row and the Baker’s Row they have previously formed part of the medieval market of Chester. The earliest references to buildings on this site dates to a deed of 1270. The present arrangement of buildings, although medieval in form, currently dates to the 19th century. 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.