Building record 10556/2 - Chester Rows : 16-18 Bridge Street Row

No 16-18 Bridge Street Row is a two storey town house, currently in use as a shop, dated to 1873. It was built by T.M. Lockwood. There is no evidence of earlier fabric in the structure. The Row level town house consists of a 19th century shop front with original windows and doors and white painted brickwork. The interior is modern clad. The first floor is applied timber framing with a central oriel mullion and transom window with pargetting below flanked by further windows. The facade is close studwork infilled by white painted brickwork, both horizontal and herringbone. This storey jetties out slightly from Row level. At Row level, the interior is late 19th century with two pre World War 2 bread ovens to the rear. The Row walkway consists of a Row walk 2.32m wide and a stallboard 2.86m wide. 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.