Building record 10591/2 - Chester Rows : 61 Bridge Street Row

No 61 Bridge Street Row appears to be built in 1889 by T. Edwards, consisting of a three storey jettied town house in the Vernacular revival style. The first floor level is slightly jettied forward with eight rounded headed decorative carved fields of biblical scenes at the base above which is a large 16 light mullion and transome oriel window with a central niche containing a wooden full length statue of a king. The Row walkway consists of a Row walk 2.16m wide and a stallboard 2.23m wide. The upper floors are supported by brick piers to the north and south with two timber posts between. The elaborate bressumer is inscribed ‘To God my King and my Country’. There is a wooden baluster towards the Row front and brackets carrying the first floor jettied 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.