Building record 10570 - Chester Rows : No 1 Bridge Street and No 1 Bridge Street Row

No 1 Bridge Street and No 1 Bridge Street Row consists of a 19th century undercroft and town house built in 1888 by T.M. Lockwood on the site of an earlier building. The undercroft level consists of brick with a modern shop front of two bays and interior. There are seven steps up to Row level on the 45 degree angle – a mirror of the arrangement on the opposite side of the street. The Row level town house consists of a three storey building of brick with real and applied timber framing and a red tile roof. A two part hipped octagonal roof rises to a weather vane above. The Row walkway consists of a Row walk 2m wide and a stallboard 1.93m wide. The upper floors are supported by an ornate bressumer carried on wooden posts with brackets supporting a jettied front. A wooden baluster borders the Row front. 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.