13 and 15 Watergate Street and 17 and 19 Watergate Row South

13 Watergate Street and 17 Watergate Row South

This is a medieval undercroft, shop and side-entry town house, rebuilt in 1771 with 19th-century and 20th-century alterations. The undercroft and inserted brick-lined barrel vault are built of red sandstone, with a timber-framed, brick-clad structure above. The roof is covered in Welsh slate.

The building has a rectangular three-storey plan with an attic floor, built over an L-shaped undercroft, creating a four-storey street frontage. The base of the L-shaped undercroft wraps around the rear of the undercroft belonging to the adjacent property. The undercroft functions as a street-level basement and connects by a doorway to the undercroft of the adjacent property to the east. The Row-level above is effectively the ground floor and is now connected by doorways in the party wall to the adjacent property at 19 Watergate Row South, as are the two upper floors.

Exterior

The undercroft has a 19th-century timber butcher's shop front with a nine-panelled ventilated door, flanked to the left by a pair of windows with moulded surrounds and rounded upper corners, separated by a central plain pilaster, with a name board above. An open stairway to the left of the shop front rises to the Row-level, which has an open veranda forming a stall. This features a timber balustrade with turned fluted baluster spindles to the front, and a section of concrete-surfaced continuous open walkway to the rear. A cast-iron Tuscan column at the front of the stall supports the overhanging floor above, which forms a ceiling decorated by a plaster frieze.

The shop front set to the rear of the veranda is mid-19th-century in character with a dentil cornice and four large glass panes. A recessed door with fanlight over is situated at the left side of the shop front. This leads to a cross passage running to the rear of the building, which has a side-entry door along its length. The passage has a concrete floor with two pairs of engaged pilasters supporting round arches, a coved panel ceiling, and the east wall has a timber wainscot and dado rail.

The two floors of the front elevation above the Row-level are clad in late 18th-century orange-brown Flemish-bond brickwork, with a moulded painted stone cornice and a coped parapet wall. The parapet continues around the west side of the building and merges into a brick chimney stack. The Row-level plus one is pierced by a pair of late 19th-century two-pane horned sash windows with plain painted stone sills and wedge lintels. The Row-level plus two has a pair of late 18th-century nine-pane sash windows in exposed sash boxes with plain painted stone sills, rusticated wedge lintels and false keystones.

The brick three-storey rear gabled elevation was rebuilt in the mid-20th century and has painted galvanised steel casement windows beneath flat concrete lintels. The elevation is partially obscured by a late 20th-century full-height four-storey stair tower, with an attached two-storey cat-slide wing that forms an extension to the rear of the adjacent property to the west. An entrance leads into the rear of the cross passage.

Interior

The undercroft has walls of squared red sandstone blocks and bricks, and it is divided into three chambers and a short corridor. The largest chamber had been divided into a butcher's shop to the front and a meat hanging room to the rear, with a secondary segmental brick barrel vaulted ceiling pierced by two rows of meat hooks. The undercroft is entered from the adjacent property by a round-arched open doorway cut through the east wall. The west wall has a blocked basket-arched doorway situated towards the north end, which is aligned with the doorway in the opposite wall. The chamber has stone slab flooring inclined to the rear, much of which is obscured by modern lounge bar seating cubicles. The south wall of the undercroft has been broken through to form an open doorway that leads into a short corridor, which provides access to a half-barrel vaulted chamber set at right-angles to the rear of the main chamber and a small rectangular room to the west.

The Row-level comprises a shop, formerly part of a house, with exposed oak timber framing visible in the west party wall, where a door opening has been cut through to 19 Watergate Row South. A side-entry door in the east wall leads from the cross passage into a central stair hall, which spans the width of the house. A well stair rises from the stair hall, with a moulded swept handrail and turned newel posts, one with a pendant orb. Each tread has three turned balusters and an individually carved floral cut and bracketed string; the treads and risers are obscured by a modern covering. The soffit of the stairs and the ceiling of the stair hall have decorated plaster strapwork with flower buds and Tudor rose motifs and the walls of the stair have panelled wainscoting. A low six-panelled door beneath the stairs gives access to 19 Watergate Row South. The stair is flanked by a large mirror in a highly decorated carved frame in the classical style.

The front room has an open segmental arch to allow access from the stair hall; it has a plain Tudor-style stone fireplace set in a chimney breast, decorated with a plaster putto in an oval panel flanked by swags. The walls have shouldered moulded plaster panels, some of which have been partially obscured by modern shop fittings. The ceiling has a deeply moulded cornice and is decorated in plaster strapwork with Tudor rose motifs. The rear room is decorated by floral plaster panels in relief on the walls, chimney breast and ceiling. Those on the walls are partially obscured by modern shop fittings. The ceiling has a simple coved plaster cornice and is divided by a substantial transverse painted timber beam.

The Row-level plus one is reached from a landing at the head of the well stair. The doorway leading to the front room has reveals moulded with low-relief panels, while the walls are decorated with moulded plaster panels that are largely obscured by modern shop fittings, which also obscure a fireplace. The room has moulded window architraves, picture rails, a decorated frieze with repeating shell and foliage motif, a moulded cornice, and the ceiling has a moulded plaster panel that is divided by an encased transverse beam. An open doorway connecting to 19 Watergate Row South is situated within a former depressed arch alcove in the west wall and a further doorway on the half-landing of the stairs also leads into the adjacent property. The rear room has a dado with two rows of panelling on the south and east sides, a plain frieze and cornice and an early 19th-century cast-iron fireplace. The staircase no longer rises the full height of the property and a modern door in the south wall of the landing gives access to the late 20th-century stair tower to the rear.

The Row-level plus two is reached from the stair tower at the rear; an axial corridor on the west side of the building provides access to a number of storerooms, an office and a staff room. A doorway in the west wall gives access to the upper-storey attic room of 19 Watergate Row South. A number of encased beams in the ceilings span this floor.

The Row-level plus three is an attic floor, also accessed from the late 20th-century stair tower. It has been subdivided by modern partition walls into two flats served by an axial corridor. Encased heavy purlins are exposed in both slopes of the roof. The front room sits within the hip of the roof, it has interrupted tie-beams, probably late-medieval, in the south wall, together with a blocked fire-breast and a modern roundel window in the west wall.

15 Watergate Street and 19 Watergate Row South

This is a medieval undercroft, shop and house with 18th-century and 19th-century alterations; substantially rebuilt during the mid-20th century. The undercroft is built of red sandstone with a timber-framed brick-clad structure over. The gable roofs are covered in Welsh slate.

The building has a rectangular three-storey plan, built over a rectangular undercroft, forming a four-storey street frontage. The undercroft is effectively a street-level basement and the Row-level is the ground floor. The Row-level is now connected by doorways in the party wall with 17 Watergate Row South, as are the two upper floors. The building has a rectangular three-storey front range and an attached rectangular two-storey rear range with a slightly different alignment. A late 20th-century cat-slide extension is attached to the rear wall of the rear range.

Exterior

The street-level undercroft has a large 20th-century shop window within a late 19th-century or early 20th-century timber shop front that has a recessed glazed two-panel door to the left, with a canted timber name board above. An open stone stairway to the right of the shop front rises to the Row-level, which has an open veranda forming a stall, with a plain timber balustrade to the front and a section of continuous open walkway with a concrete surface to the rear. A cast-iron Tuscan column at the front of the stall supports the overhanging floor above.

The shop front set to the rear of the veranda is early 19th-century classical style with a dentil cornice and fluted end pilasters; it has three large glass panes to either side of a glazed recessed door. The front elevation of the two floors above are clad in mid-20th-century orange-brown stretcher-bond brickwork with a coped parapet wall with a stack-bond course that obscures the roof from street level. The Row-level plus one is pierced by three late 20th-century four-pane sash windows all with plain painted stone sills and wedge lintels, and there are two small cast-iron signs attached to the front elevation, reading SPP and TP. The Row-level plus two has a three-light casement of eight panes in a similar surround.

The two-storey rear brick gable is partially obscured by a late 20th-century two-storey cat-slide extension, attached to a four-storey full-height brick stair tower, built to the rear of 17 Watergate Row South. The exposed brickwork is laid in English bond, with two mid-20th-century timber casement windows.

Interior

The rectangular undercroft has walls of squared red sandstone rubble and cut blocks, with brick patching. The east wall steps in towards its south end with exposed secondary trimmers and a trimmer joist in the ceiling. A single oak post survives in the brick-built south wall. The ceiling has three large exposed chamfered oak beams supporting oak joists. The floor is obscured by parquet flooring.

The Row-level has a largely mid and late 20th-century shop interior with few historic features visible, though there are substantial encased ceiling beams and it is considered that structural remains are obscured behind modern partitions. Oak timber framing is exposed in the east party wall, where a door opening has been cut through to 17 Watergate Row South. There is now no access to the two upper floors from this level, as the former staircase has been removed and access is now achieved from within 17 Watergate Row South.

The Row-level plus one is entered from 17 Watergate Row South, by doorways in the east wall, one from the winder of the staircase and the other through a former alcove position in the front room. The front room occupies the whole of the first floor of the front range and few historic features are visible, though fragmentary sections of decorative plasterwork are visible and encased ceiling beams remain. A substantial truncated tie beam and king strut, probably late medieval, that formed part of a collar and tie-beam truss, have been cut through and opened up to allow open access into the former rear room, which has a 20th-century extension, entered by a doorway in the south wall.

The Row-level plus two is accessed from 17 Watergate Row South by an open doorway and a short flight of steps that lead into the south-east corner of the attic room. There is a three-light casement of eight panes in the north gable wall and a low-set blocked window position in the south gable wall. Two substantial encased purlins are exposed below the ceiling, which are supported by an inserted secondary principal rafter truss.

The late 20th-century stair tower built to the rear of 17 Watergate Row South together with the attached two-storey cat-slide roofed extension to the rear of 19 Watergate Row South, the lounge bar furnishings and toilet fittings in 13 Watergate Street, and all 20th-century shop fittings and changing room cubicles are not of special architectural or historic interest.