38, West Street

This is a house located at 38 West Street in Harwich, dating from around 1600 with early 19th-century alterations. It features a timber-framed structure with a painted brick front and a gabled clay plain tile roof that rises to a hip in the center due to a later extension at the rear. The house has two storeys and attics.

The front exterior includes a dormer with a double-hung sash window that has small panes and a lean-to slate roof. There is also a flush double-hung sash window with a moulded surround beneath a shallow painted brick arch on the first floor. The ground floor showcases an early 19th-century doorcase with a reeded architrave, a flat hood, and a margin-glazed fanlight above a 20th-century four-panel door, along with a similar double-hung sash window. The building has a tarred plinth with moulded brick coping and features one gable end stack.

Inside, the timber frame from around 1600 is visible, with joists that have narrow stopped chamfers. The house was formerly jettied towards the street, and there is a rear wall stack along with some exposed framing. The attic floor has an exposed spine beam on the underside, and the roof is of 'A' frame type. This property is part of a structure that includes Nos 38A and 39.