Summary

Originally two dwellings of probable C17 and C18 origin, set around a central courtyard. The two houses were amalgamated into one building by the late C19 and altered in the late C20. Now (2013) a ground-floor commercial premise with three flats above.

Description

MATERIALS: cement-rendered stone building under tiled roofs.

PLAN: the building has a long rectangular plan running west to east. The west gable end faces onto Market Street with a south wing joining it to the east end which fronts onto North Street. The upper floors are set around a central terrace.

EXTERIOR: the Market Street (west) elevation is of two bays and with two storeys and an attic. It is flanked by stucco pilasters that rise to the attic floor. The ground floor has a modern shop front with a large full-height central casement window, a partially-glazed entrance to the left and a similar door leading to the upper-storey flats on the right. The upper storeys each have two sash windows with flush frames. The windows on the first floor are eight-over-eight sashes with rectangular panes. The second-floor windows are smaller with square panes, also with eight-over-eight arrangement. The gable is topped by a pediment with a decorative modillion dentilled cornice. Within the pediment is a Venetian window with Gothic Y-tracery glazing bars within the central light. At the junction between the two former houses, the upper storeys are set around a central terrace. The walls around this terrace are all pebbledash rendered. The windows are all C20 and are a mixture of timber casements and uPVC. The North Street (east) elevation is of two storeys and is two bays wide. The ground floor is largely late-C20 rebuild and has a glazed shop front with an entrance to the right and to the first floor, above a panel of timber cladding, is a full-width single-glazed timber framed window.

INTERIOR: the whole of the ground floor serves as a shop premises with an open-plan sales room in the western part of the building and a connecting store room with separate toilet in the east part. The ceiling beams in the western part are clad in plasterboard which may mask earlier timber beams. The upper floors consist of three flats which are all accessed via an external door on the east side of the building which leads up into a communal hallway. The entrance stairway is late-C20. The first floor of the western half of the building (Flat 2) could not be inspected. The floor above (Flat 3) retains some moulded coving above the entrance door to the flat. The eastern end of the building (Flat 1) does not retain any historic fittings. There are six and four-panel doors throughout the building; these all have modern doors handles and most appear to be modern replacements or have been relocated from elsewhere in the building. The collar-beam roof in the western half of the building retains a good proportion of C17/ early-C18 timbers, including three large pegged principal trusses, purlins, braces and rafters. The roof over the connecting south wing between the two former houses also retains some historic roof carpentry including a pegged principal truss and purlins. The roof over the North Street side consists of a collar rafter with tie beam; one of the purlins has been reused and the other is a replacement.

History

Originally two dwellings that occupied a narrow plot between Market Street and North Street. The rears of the buildings were attached but each fronted onto a different road. The Market Street end has an C18 façade, and the roof over this gable end shows evidence of C17/ early-C18 roof timbers. Both dwellings appear on the 1762 Tavistock Field Survey. The 1st Edition Ordnance Survey Map (1885) indicates that by then they were a single property. In the late C20 a number of alterations took place, all with listed building consent. This included building over the central ground-floor courtyard. The upper floors were converted into three flats and at the same time the ground floor was sub-divided into separate businesses: the Market Street part became offices and the eastern part (North Street) a restaurant, each accessed from their respective roads. All of the ground floor has now (2013) reverted to a single shop premise. The ground-floor shop front facing onto Market Street and the North Street elevation have been largely rebuilt in the C20.

Reasons for Listing

5 Market Street, Tavistock is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Architectural interest: it retains a significant proportion of early building fabric including C17/ early-C18 roof timbers over the west end, good survival of the other historic roof structures and an impressive C18 main (west) elevation;

* Historic interest: it is a good survival of two pre-1840 town houses, including one with probable C17 origins, which were amalgamated in one building in the C19;

*Alterations: despite the alterations to the internal plan, east elevation and the upper floor windows around the inner terrace, the building retains significant historic building fabric;

* Group value: it is one of several listed town houses on Market Street which form the historic commercial centre of Tavistock.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26399774

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

• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)