59 Bridge Street and 67 and 69 Bridge Street Row East

59 Bridge Street and 67 and 69 Bridge Street Row East

A late 17th-century building comprising an undercroft and Row shops with a former townhouse above, forming part of the Chester Row system. The building was altered in the 18th century and re-fronted in the mid-20th century. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the undercroft and Row shops were in separate occupancy, with the street-level undercroft housing a chemists. The upper storeys were re-fronted in the 1950s, with the façade being an approximate replica of that shown in a drawing by artist George Batenham in 1816. The alterations retained the stallboard and Row walkway, and the building continues to form part of the Chester Row system. As of 2023, there were two separate shop units to the undercroft and Row, with the upper floors in residential use.

The building is of red-brown brick with a Welsh slate roof. It has a narrow frontage and extends rearwards in a linear range, spanning four bays in depth to the rear eastwards from the street frontage. The building comprises four storeys including undercroft and Row level, plus an attic.

The undercroft has a late 20th-century shopfront to the street. The Row has a late 19th-century shopfront with a Row walkway in front. Access to the upper floors (number 67 Bridge Street Row) is from the Row level, to the north of the Row shop.

The upper storeys have been re-fronted in late 20th-century stretcher bond brickwork incorporating flanking plain pilasters. There are re-used tripartite sash window frames to the third and fourth storeys and a single sash to the attic. The rear elevation has a doorway at Row level giving access to a rear yard, set above the rear gable of the main range. The rear gable has a transomed three-light window to the rear ground floor, tripartite sashes to the upper floors and a small sash window to the attic floor. To the left of the gable is a narrow single-bay extension below a monopitch roof, incorporating blocked window openings.

An 18th-century six-panelled door gives access to an entrance passage leading to the stair hall at the rear end, also with a six-panelled door. A mid-17th-century open-well dog-leg stair with turned balusters, newel posts and a wide moulded handrail rises through all floors to the attic storey in the same form. Above the Row level are two further floors with a side corridor linking the rooms and the stairwell, with an open attic floor above.

The third storey has large rooms to each end. The front west room has plain boxed spine beams flanking a side-wall hearth with an 18th-century surround, a moulded plaster cornice and an 18th-century two-panelled door. A small room to the east has a two-panelled door and a small hearth with an overmantle shelf below a spine beam with a moulded chamfer and stop set close to the line of the west partition wall. The eastern end room beyond the stairwell has chamfered spine beams flanking a small hearth with a 19th-century surround, and a section of square panelling with an integral panelled door to the south-eastern corner. A curved partition to the north-eastern corner with a two-panelled door gives access to the rear extension.

The fourth floor has a similar linear plan form. The west room has deeply moulded and stopped spine beams, a moulded cornice and an 18th-century surround to a side-wall hearth. A smaller room to the east has a deeply-moulded spine beam and a late 17th-century hearth with a moulded surround and overmantle featuring pilasters with moulded capitals and a frieze enclosing a central fielded panel. The east wall has a window onto an enclosed light well to the rear of the stairwell. The eastern end room has a two-panelled door and two spine beams—one chamfered and stopped, the other boxed—with a moulded cornice. There is a shallow arch-headed recess to the south-east corner with 19th-century panelled doors. A curved partition to the north-eastern corner has dado panelling.

The attic floor has a double-purlin roof with partitions concealing the supporting roof trusses. The stairwell head has turned balusters to the upper balustrade and a small flanking chamber to its north side. The eastern end room has been partially underdrawn at the upper purlin level. The west end room has exposed rafters and a diagonally set ridge purlin. Wide floorboards run throughout the attic storey. The building is a re-fronted 17th-century house with 18th-century interior remodelling, displaying distinctive elevational and plan-form characteristics of Chester Row townhouses and retaining much good-quality interior detail.