NUMBERS 40, 42 AND 44 STREET NUMBERS 42-48 ROW

Numbers 40, 42, and 44 Street, and Numbers 42-48 Row, Chester, is an early 20th-century building constructed in 1912 to the designs of the Lockwood Partnership, a family of architects known for their work in Chester’s Vernacular Revival style. The building was erected on the site of earlier structures and originally housed shops for Bolland’s confectioners, who had previously occupied nearby premises. Later, it became part of the Brown’s department store, and in the 21st century, the Row shops were divided into two separate retail premises with ancillary uses above, alongside two shops in the undercroft.

The building is timber-framed with plaster panels and has a grey-slate roof with three front gables running along the main ridge. It is four storeys high, incorporating an undercroft, a Row level, and three main storeys. The ground-floor undercroft has modern shopfronts, as does the Row level, with seven sandstone steps leading to the Row front at Number 46. A boxed bressumer beam supports the third storey above the Row front. The third storey exhibits close-studded timber framing with a mid-rail and three shallow five-light mullioned and transomed oriel windows with leaded glass. The fourth storey is similarly close-studded and boldly jettied on four quadrant brackets, displaying three mullioned five-light leaded casement windows that project from the wall face. The gables feature panelled herringbone struts and plain bargeboards. The overall style is relatively restrained compared to earlier 19th-century frontages in Eastgate Street. The interior shows no visible earlier fabric.