St Werburgh Street is a terrace consisting of a bank, shops and offices on the east side of St Werburgh Street and the north side of Eastgate Street. It leads to Chester Cathedral, and its history relates back to the 1890s, when Chester City Council arranged for the demolition of a row of old shops on its east side. The council intended to sell the vacant land in separate lots, but the Chester architect John Douglas bought the entire length of the east side of the street and planned to create a series of buildings in a unified architectural design. Douglas' first plan was to construct the buildings in stone with brick diapering in Gothic style. However he was persuaded by the Duke of Westminster to include black-and-white half-timbering in his design. Along present day St Werburgh Street, the first five ground floor bays are in stone, and the rest have modern shop fronts. The first floor has a variety of windows, some of them oriels; the second floor also has windows; these are in plainer design. Between the first and second floors is a carved bressummer. The whole front is topped by eleven gables of varying sizes. At the north end of the terrace is a turret with an octagonal spire surmounted by a lead finial with a weathervane. Rising from the roof are brick decorated chimney stacks. The upper storeys display "an unbroken expanse of gorgeously ornamented half-timber", and include carvings of Norman earls, saints (including St Werburgh), and Queen Victoria.
More Information: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2%E2%80%9318_St_Werburgh_Street,_Chester&oldid=426903245