13 And 15, Lower Bridge Street

This building, located at 13 and 15 Lower Bridge Street, Chester, is a town house with an undercroft, now used as shops and a museum. The undercroft likely dates back to the 14th century and was altered in the 18th and 19th centuries. The front of the building probably originates from the late 17th century; the interior, above the Row storey, is largely late 17th century, with alterations from the 18th century onwards.

The building is constructed of coursed sandstone and brick for the undercroft, with an irregularly bonded brown brick front, and a grey slate roof running parallel to the front, with a rear portion that has been altered. The exterior features four storeys of one bay. It has a modern shop front with plate glass windows and a rendered fascia. The upper storeys have flush painted stone piers, and each storey has a tripartite sash window of six panes over twenty-four panes over six panes, with painted stone sills and gauged brick heads. A small blocked opening, ten courses high, is visible in the attic, with a plain painted stone coping to the gable parapet and a lateral chimney on the south side.

The rear of the building includes a narrow wing to the north, partially obscured by a full-width outshut. A flush twelve-pane sash window is located on the third storey, and a replaced window is on the fourth storey of the main block, both with cambered brick heads.

The undercroft’s interior displays portions of medieval stonework, repaired and altered using brick in the 18th and 20th centuries. In No. 15, the front portion comprises four bays of brick with timber beams. The north and south walls of the central section show sections of medieval stonework repaired with brick. The rear portion has stone north and south walls repaired in brick, with two medieval cupboard recesses in the south wall and a sandstone east wall, which shows evidence of a medieval rear access stair. A panelled embrasure is present in the front room at the former Row level. The staircase has a square newel, closed string, two barley sugar balusters per step, and a heavy moulded rail. The rear room exhibits a stop-chamfered oak beam and a fireplace with a carved oak surround, originally from the former Blue Post Inn. The front room on the panelled third storey includes a square row below the dado rail, panels above, a chamfered oak cross-beam, a possibly replaced fireplace with an eared architrave in the corner, a door of two long, two short, and two long panels on the north wall, and a door of six fielded panels from the landing. A blocked corner flue and two stop-chamfered oak cross-beams are present in the second room. The third room has a door of four panels, the upper two with stop-chamfered arrises. The fourth storey boasts stout oak beams, some repaired; the cross-beam in the front room has lambs tongue stops and mortices for joists in its upper arrises, alongside a corner flue.