Description

DARTMOUTH

SX874510 THE QUAY
673-1/8/260 (West side)
14/09/49 No.12
(Formerly Listed as:
THE QUAY
Nos.12 AND 13)

GV II*

Merchant's house, now a grocery shop with flats above.
Probably 1639 on land leased to Edward Spurway, with later
C17, C19 and C20 modernisations. Mixed construction; thick
party walls of local stone rubble, front and back walls of
plastered timber-framing; stone rubble stack in right party
wall with C19 brick chimneyshaft; slate roof.
PLAN: Probably built as left-hand house of a pair with
adjoining No.13 The Quay (qv). Built end onto The Quay.
Probably one-room plan with stack in right party wall shared
with No.13. No early stair and it seems that, by the late C17,
access to the first floor was from the adjoining properties.
By the late C19 the ground floor had been cleared of any
partitions and was converted to a grocery shop which survives
little altered.
EXTERIOR: 3 storeys with attics; 2-window range. Superficially
it is late C19, but C17 structure indicated by jettied upper
floors. Ends of the stone party walls corbel out to carry the
jetties. They are plastered but, in the right wall, a
hoodmould just below the corbelling for the second-floor jetty
indicates the survival of a date plaque. Ground floor has very
good late C19 timber shop front with polished marble plinth,
plate-glass windows divided by slender turned mahogany
standards and with segmental-arch heads containing ventilators
in the spandrels, curving windows to central recessed doorway
containing a good bottom-panelled glazed door under overlight,
fascia with original gilded lettering (it is still the same
company) behind glass, large brackets each end to the blind
which is still used. Late C19 and C20 windows above. 2 canted
bays on the first floor contain casements without glazing
bars, but boxed posts each end may derive from earlier
windows. 2 horned 4-pane sashes to the second floor and C20
tripartite sash without glazing bars above. Bottom corner of
the second-floor bressummer carved with an unusual version of
bead-and-reel, very early for 1639. Probably contemporary
moulded beam to attic floor. Plain tall gable.
INTERIOR: All carpentry hidden behind C19 and C20 plaster and
fireplaces blocked but the C17 house is probably
well-preserved. First floor has original ornamental
plasterwork overmantel featuring a coat of arms, pegasi,
cherub heads, stars and a spray. Corridor behind apparently
connecting late C17 doorways in the party walls both sides.
Second floor not available for inspection. Attic shows bottom
of principals of an original 3-bay roof. Ground-floor shop is
still largely late C19 with boarded walls and ceilings and
still uses some contemporary shelves, drawers etc.
HISTORY: This is one of a group of merchants' houses built on
reclaimed land in a Town Corporation-backed scheme to reclaim
land for housing and expand the port facilities with the New
Quay. This began in 1585, and by the second phase, in the
1630s, this was the most fashionable part of the town, and the
surviving C17 houses here are amongst the best merchants'
houses of their period in Devon.

Listing NGR: SX8779051383

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17533806

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)