Cowper House is a former

town house A townhouse, townhome, town house, or town home, is a type of terraced housing. A modern townhouse is often one with a small footprint on multiple floors. In a different British usage, the term originally referred to any type of city residence ...

at 12 Bridge Street, Chester, Cheshire, England. It is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...

as a designated Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, and it incorporates a section of the

Chester Rows Chester Rows are a set of structures in each of the four main streets of Chester, in the United Kingdom, consisting of a series of covered walkways on the first floor behind which are entrances to shops and other premises. At street level is ...

History

Cowper House was built in 1664, following the destruction of many buildings in Chester during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. It was built above

undercroft An undercroft is traditionally a cellar or storage room, often brick-lined and vaulted, and used for storage in buildings since medieval times. In modern usage, an undercroft is generally a ground (street-level) area which is relatively open ...

s dating from 1350 to 1375, or possibly earlier. Alterations have been made to the building in the 19th and 20th centuries. Thomas Cowper had been

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

of Chester in 1641–42 and a

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governm ...

supporter in the

. The rear undercroft was excavated in 1839, and it is thought that the front undercroft is older than that in the rear.

Architecture

Exterior

The house is constructed in

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

, brick, and

timber framing Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

with plaster panels. The roof is of grey slate. It has four storeys and a

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

overlooking the street. The street level consists of a modern shop front on the right of which is a flight of 11 stone steps leading to the Row level above. At the Row level is another modern shop front. Between this and the street is a walkway, a sloping stallboard and a rail with balusters overlooking the street. Above the Row opening is a carved fascia. In the storey above is a window running almost the whole width of the building. Its frame projects from the wall and is carried on eight corbels. The window has 14 lights, is

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...

ed and transomed, and contains leaded lights. Below and on each side of the window are timber-framed panels. The top storey is

jettied Jettying (jetty, jutty, from Old French ''getee, jette'') is a building technique used in medieval timber-frame buildings in which an upper floor projects beyond the dimensions of the floor below. This has the advantage of increasing the avail ...

. At its base is a bressummer carved centrally with "•T•C•1664" (the initials are those of Thomas Cowper), on each side of which are carved patterns. The top storey has a ten-light mullioned and transomed casement window containing leaded lights. Below the window are eight panels containing wooden carvings, and two similar panels are on each side of the window. Above the window are quadrant-braced panels. The

bargeboard Bargeboard (probably from Medieval Latin ''bargus'', or ''barcus'', a scaffold, and not from the now obsolete synonym "vergeboard") or rake fascia is a board fastened to each projecting gable of a roof to give it strength and protection, and to ...

is decorated with carvings and at its peak is a finial.

Interior

Two steps lead down from the street to the front undercroft which is 16m long. At its rear, six steps lead down to the rear undercroft which is 13m long. This undercroft has six bays and is rib vaulted. At the far end is a three-light window. On the left side in the fifth bay is a stone stairway. In the third storey is a sandstone fireplace with a beam inscribed "TC 1661" on each side of a blank shield.

History

Architecture

Exterior

Interior

See also

References

Further reading