The Rowes

The Rowes are two houses located on West Street in Harwich, dating from the 17th century and early 18th century. They are timber-framed and rendered, featuring a parapeted south gable made of red brick. The front range has a gabled roof covered with clay plain tiles and includes three hipped dormers. At the rear, there is a long extension with a gabled roof, along with an area of flat roof and a shorter projecting gable. The buildings are two storeys high, with attics and cellars.

On the exterior, the front displays a moulded timber eaves cornice, with projections that indicate the positions of former windows. Each house features a square double-hung sash window with a moulded surround on each floor, all with small panes; the ground-floor window of No.21 has three vertical glazing bars. Both houses have identical flat hooded doorcases with reeded architraves that include interrupting blocks. The upper corners of the doorcases are adorned with square blocks featuring moulded roundels. The early 19th-century doors have four flush panels and a horizontal glazed panel above.

Inside, No.21 has a spine beam and a dogleg staircase with thick turned balusters and panelled side walls. No.22 showcases exposed 17th-century framing and a short section of a late 18th-century staircase. The rear wall stack in the cellar includes a semicircular-arched recess, and there is an oak mantel beam that has been reused.