17, Arwenack Street

No. 17 Arwenack Street is a town house with a later shop, dating from the early 19th century. The exterior features incised stucco on rubble, with cornices on consoles above the openings, including an elliptically-arched doorway. The roof is not visible from the street, but there is a brick stack on the right and a grouted scantle slate roof at the rear, along with another brick stack. The building has a double-depth plan and includes a late 19th-century basement extension over an early 19th-century foreshore building. It stands three storeys high over a hidden basement and has a two-window range. The original 16-pane hornless sashes and a six-panel door in an incised frame are located to the far left. The early 20th-century double shop front features splayed sidelights flanking a central doorway.

At the rear, the building is three storeys over a basement, with an extension above a lower basement. This area includes keyed elliptically-arched doorways with ledged doors and a brick-blocked loading doorway. The fenestration of the late 19th-century basement extension features two horned sashes with glazing bars. The rear of the house is slate-hung and has a tall mid-floor sash, along with a later four-pane hornless sash on the second floor; there is also a weatherboarded washroom projection on the right.

The interior, where inspected, retains many original features, including a moulded ceiling in the basement, a moulded and carved ceiling band with a large carved rose in the rear room of the shop, and elliptical moulded arches between the front and rear rooms and in the entrance hall. It also features six-panel doors and a basement staircase. Although not fully inspected, it is reported to have an exceptionally good quality open-well staircase and carved plasterwork details.