Number 20 Street Numbers 16 And 18 Row

This building comprises a shop and accommodation, likely built on the site of two former undercrofts and town houses. It dates to 1873 and was designed by T.M. Lockwood, who deliberately avoided incorporating elements of any previous structures. The building is constructed from brick, with timber framing and painted brick and plaster panels, topped by a half-hipped red clay tile roof. Its symmetrical front is a pastiche architectural style.

The shopfront, probably dating from the 1930s and featuring hard stone tiles, has an Art Deco vent and a later door and window. A steep flight of twelve steps leads south from the shopfront to the Row, a covered walkway characteristic of Chester. The Row front features heavy turned balusters and a timber rail, with a cast-iron rail further down and a stallboard approximately 3 metres wide. Stone piers flank the Row, backed by brickwork, with two intermediate moulded octagonal posts. Continuous stop-chamfered joists run over the stallboard and Row walk. A painted brick wall to the rear of the Row contains three blocked top-lights to the street-level shop. A recessed porch with three steps and a door consisting of two short, two long, and two short panels, along with a three-pane overlight, is also present. Three windows with two one-pane lights, colonnette mullions, a transom, and four upper panes are arranged above, with two north of the porch and one narrower window to the south. A framed and boarded passage door is located south of the building, with one step. Brick relieving arches are positioned at each end over the Row.

Above the Row front, a deep bressumer carries a jetty-beam resting on brackets, and a wrought-iron sign bracket is attached. The third and fourth storeys are divided into three bays, with the central bay projecting and capped by a gable. The side bays are smaller and framed. The third storey has a central five-light oriel window with convex pargeted sub-panels, flanked by cross-windows in the side bays. The fourth storey is jettied, with a timber balcony on shaped brackets and balusters supporting the central gable, showcasing ornate corner posts. Each side bay has a mullioned two-light casement. The third and fourth storey windows retain shaped leaded stained glazing in the upper lights, although the former rectangular leaded panes in the lower lights have been removed. The gable features a coved jetty, herringbone struts, arched bargeboards and a weather vane. Small-framed sidewalls extend above the adjoining properties, with a shaped brick chimney at each end.

The interior at street level includes a shop and café area with five probably timber Delian columns, and some plaster mouldings to the beams and cornices. The Row and upper storeys, which function as a solicitor's office, were not fully inspected. The open-well stair to the third storey has been covered and likely altered. Some moulded cornices are present. The former main stair to the fourth storey has been removed and replaced with a light-well, and an 1873 secondary stair to the fourth storey remains.