Building record 10532/2 - Chester Rows: 16 Eastgate Street Row

No 16 Eastgate Street Row is a three storey town house, largely built in the early 19th century, and currently in use as a shop and accommodation. The main building material is a dark brick with Flemish bond. Although the undercroft and Row level town house are listed as late 18th century, no evidence of any features earlier than the early 19th century were noted during the survey. The front facade of the Row level is modern brick with a central recessed doorway. The upper two floors both contain two plain sash windows with painted stone sill and stone head over. The roof is of Welsh slate on a north-south axis and hipped at both ends. A 20th century extension was added to the rear of the property. Although the interior has largely been stripped, some 19th century internal partitions survive on the first floor above Row level. The Row front has plain iron railings and a stallboard some 2.05m wide. The upper storeys are supported by two Doric style cast iron columns in the centre of the Row front. The Chester Rows Research Project was carried out between 1985 and 1990 and included detailed 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.