Building record 10529/2 - Chester Rows: 8 Eastgate Street Row

No 8 Eastgate Street Row is a three storey Row level town house, currently in use as shops and accommodation, and built in around 1860 in the vernacular revival style. The main building materials are timber framing with plaster panels hiding a brick superstructure and a grey slate roof with a ridge parallel to the front. The Row level shop front is modern, late 19th or 20th century, with a timber frame facade, probably false. The timber framing continues into the upper two floors with a jettied floor at first floor level. The roof has an ornate timber frame gable with central window into the attic space. The Row walkway is supported by ornate wrought iron columns and an iron railing on the Row front. The sloping stallboard is 1.82m wide with a covered Row walk. 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.