Building record 10563/2 - Chester Rows : 36 Bridge Street Row

No 36 Bridge Street Row is a late 19th century two storey town house, currently in use as a commercial property, built by John Douglas in 1897 in the Vernacular revival style. It is brick and timber frame with a green slate roof on an east west axis at right angles to the street. The front facade consists of the original 19th century shop front with tiled surrounds to the door in the south and a mullion and transom window to the north. The upper floor is jettied with the gable end occupying most of the frontage except for a small mullion and transom window to the north. The main gable section has two oriel windows with coving below. The whole has close studwork and elaborate bargeboards with the date ‘1897’ inscribed on the central tie beam. The interior was not extensively inspected, however, it appears to be original 19th century features throughout. The Row walkway consists of a Row walk 2.13m wide and a stallboard 1.78m wide. The upper floors are supported on stone piers to the north and south to which are attached carved timber half columns. 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.