Building record 10606 - Chester Rows: 51 Lower Bridge Street

No 51 Lower Bridge Street, now Hotel Romano, is a wide frontage Georgian town house built in 1700 by John Mather. The width of the facade is 9.47m. The town house is three storeys high with a half basement partially below street level. It is built of handmade brick in Flemish bond with a stone undercroft and stone quoins. The stone built undercroft is 0.60m below present street level and accessed via a narrow set of steps to the south of the main entrance into the town house. It is currently in use as a restaurant for the hotel. The maximum internal length is 15.52m and there is a barrel vault to the rear. It is likely contemporary with the town house. The former Row level of the town house is accessed via a set of steps parallel with the street. The doorway, located slightly to the south of the centre, is ornate with a recessed entrance of probable modern origin and a decorative porch above. There are three unequal sash windows on this floor. The upper floors have two large 8 pane sash windows to the north and south with a central 6 pane sash window. The interior has been much altered to convert it to its present use as a hotel and few original features remain. 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.