Building record 10530/2 - Chester Rows: 12 Eastgate Street Row

No 12 Eastgate Street Row is a three storey town house, now in use as a shop and accommodation, built in 1861 by G Williams of Liverpool for Messrs Beckett and Co. The Row walkway consists of a terrazzo Row walk with mosaic border approximately 2.67m wide and a stallboard 1.68m wide. The Row front is screened by a ornate quatrefoil in circle cast iron railing, ornamented timber posts by the central steps up to the Row and further posts at either end of the bay. There is a faded gilt sign on the inner face of the east end-pier ‘SILKS, DRESS FABRICS, LINEN, HOSIERY, GLOVES, FURS, GARNITURES, ARTICLES DE PARIS’ The front facade is timber framed with plaster panels and highly decorative in design. The Row level shop front is largely 19th century with brackets to support the jettied facade of the first floor level. The facade of the first floor is largely dominated by a near continuous line of windows with a St Andrew's cross, with a trefoil in each triangle, above each light. Brackets for further jettying for the second floor level were also noted. The second floor level contains a series of four windows supported on the jettied front with side plaster panels. 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.