Numbers 17 And 19 Street Numbers 21 And 23 Row

Numbers 17 and 19 Bridge Street and 21 and 23 Bridge Street Row East comprise an undercroft of probable medieval origin, situated beneath a late 18th-century Row shop and former townhouse. Alterations occurred in the later 20th century, but a 1949 photograph shows a façade with heavy cornices and brackets above the windows and a substantial pediment to the eaves. In the early 20th century, the undercroft held two shop units occupied by a provision dealer and butcher; at the same time, number 23 Bridge Street Row was used by a stationer, an art teacher, and the secretary of the Ladies Country Club. As of 2021, the undercroft and Row shops were combined into single units occupied by a travel agency, with the use of the upper floors currently unknown.

The building is constructed of rendered brick with a slate roof running at right angles to the street. The exterior consists of four storeys, including the undercroft and Row. The Row features Doric end-piers and a cast-iron railing running along the front, returning along the stallboard sides with circlets between paired upper rails. The stallboard, measuring 1.72 meters from front to back, has been altered and has a granolithic covering; the Row walkway is also granolithic. The shopfront is of an early 20th-century design, with a recessed central door beneath an ornamented four-centred ‘Tudor’ arch and a fascia. To either side are bolection-moulded panelled stallrisers, timber pilasters, and a three-pane window with spiral-moulded arrises. The Row has a plaster ceiling. The rendered bressumer above the Row-front sags slightly, suggesting a timber construction.

The upper storeys are rendered. The third storey has a sill band immediately above a Row-front cornice and two recessed six-over-six pane sash windows. The fourth storey features a sill band and two recessed three-over-six pane sashes below a coped shallow front gable. A lateral south chimney is likely but not clearly visible.

The front undercroft is wholly lined, but a rear undercroft (now a cellar) accessible from the Row shop has sandstone sidewalls, likely of medieval origin. The Row shop is lined. The upper storeys have not been inspected, but are reportedly home to a 19th-century staircase against the south wall and a mid-to-late Victorian rear attic.