Enderby House

Enderby House is an early to mid-19th century building of two storeys and two windows, with a wide, projecting bay placed diagonally across the left corner. The exterior is modernly rendered and features incised lines, a stone cornice, and a blocking course. The windows are sash windows, some with vertical bars. While the exterior is unremarkable, the interior contains a handsome octagonal room on the first floor, overlooking the diagonal bay – a space from which the ship owner would have observed his vessels' approach. Narrow columns with leafy capitals support an enriched entablature, above which is a domed roof light with cast iron tracery. An oval landing features doors curved to the wall shape.

The building is historically significant as it belonged to the firm of Samuel Enderby, a major company involved in whaling, sealing, and Antarctic exploration, even being referenced in Herman Melville’s "Moby Dick." Following the decline of British whaling in 1854, the wharf was taken over by Glass, Elliott and Company, who were contractors for the first transatlantic telegraph cable (which was lost in 1857), then the second which briefly operated in 1858. The business was reorganized in 1864 as the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company. They manufactured cable at Enderby’s Wharf using an improved design, and in 1865 and 1866, the Great Eastern was used as the cable-laying ship, ultimately achieving the first successful transatlantic telecommunications cable connection by the end of 1866.

The building is listed partly for its important associations with the history of industry and technology, particularly the laying of the first transatlantic cable.