Number 61 Street Numbers 71 And 73 Row

Number 61 Bridge Street and 71 and 73 Bridge Street Row East in Chester form a partially surviving medieval stone undercroft beneath a Row and townhouse that were rebuilt in brick around 1760. The new work incorporated many reused timbers with 17th-century detailing and is thought to have replaced a two-bay 17th-century timber structure. In the later 19th century the undercroft and Row shops were in separate occupancy, with two shops at Row level—one operated as a boot and shoemaker—while the undercroft functioned as a single shop unit, operating as a baker and flour deliverer in 1878 and a grocers by 1902. The building was altered in the 20th century and the undercroft has since accommodated various retail and restaurant businesses. As of 2023, the Row level shop operated as a model centre with ancillary uses above, while the street-level undercroft was used as a restaurant.

The building is constructed in Flemish bond brown brick with a grey slate roof whose ridge runs at right angles to the street and is hipped to the front. It is four storeys high, including the undercroft and Row, and probably incorporates two medieval plots converted into one in the 18th century.

The undercroft has a modern shopfront to the street with covered end-piers. The Row front features rendered end-piers, two cast-iron Tuscan intermediate columns, and a timber rail on stout turned balusters. An altered boarded stallboard measuring 1.67 metres front to back, now scarcely sloped, has two steps down to the flagged Row walkway. The 20th-century Row shopfront includes a 19th-century door to the south (to number 73 Bridge Street Row) and a glazed 20th-century door into the shop. A plaster ceiling slopes from the Row-front to the shop. A large Row-top bressumer has modillions above the fascia.

The brick upper storeys contain replaced horned six-over-six-pane recessed sash windows with painted stone sills and rusticated wedge lintels. There is a full cornice of painted stone and a tall brick parapet with plain coping. A lateral chimney is set back to the north.

The front part of the undercroft, three steps down from street level, is lined with no visible features. The back part is paired with a southern chamber beneath an 18th-century brick barrel-vault now plastered. Refurbishment observations in July 1988 revealed medieval stone walls with a doorway and fair east face to the present back wall, suggesting a similar rear undercroft chamber to that in number 57 Bridge Street.

The Row storey retains some reused 17th-century oak beams. There is a six-flight open-well open-string stair behind the southern door opening onto the Row; the lower three flights were not in use at survey. The stair features softwood treads and risers, carved brackets, turned newels, three column-on-vase balusters per step, and a swept rail. Up to the third storey the stair has dado pilasters, a rail, and a landing balustrade to the now-floored stairwell.

A later one-flight stair to the third storey appears late Georgian but is altered, with steps covered. It has a turned newel, closed string, stick balusters, and a rail swept only to the bottom newel. The third-storey landing of the older stair has three doorways with shouldered architraves. The doors to the front chamber and rear wing have been removed; the door to the second room is of six fielded panels. The front chamber over the Row has a panelled doorway, well-panelled embrasures, an integral cast-iron grate and mantel, and a substantial cornice to the west, south, and east walls. There is a stop-chamfered 17th-century beam, probably brought-in, over the entrance to the rear wing. The fourth-storey front room has a cast-iron grate in a damaged surround with its mantel cut off and a door of three broad boards on butterfly hinges.