St Aubyns Arms Public House, Post Office And Adjoining Antique Shop

The St Aubyns Arms public house, post office, and adjoining antique shop, located in Crowan Fore Street, Praze-an-Beeble, dates primarily to the 18th century with later 19th-century extensions. The building is constructed of granite ashlar, with the older section featuring wedged lintels forming flat arches, the ground floor examples incised to resemble voussoirs. The 18th-century portion has asbestos slate roofing with a granite ashlar stack over the left-hand gable end and over a cross party wall; other areas have scantle slate roofing with axial and gable brick chimneys. Cast iron ogee gutters are also present.

The building has a double-depth plan, except for a single-cell, single-storey smithy on the left. The three-storey 18th-century section comprises two similar but not identical houses, each originally one room wide on the ground floor and two rooms wide above. In the centre of the ground floor are likely cross passages for each house, with a through passage connecting them to a rear courtyard. The ground floor of the right-hand house has been almost entirely remodelled in the 20th century for use as a post office. The public house section is three rooms wide, likely originally two rooms with a cross passage between, with the right-hand room built as or remodelled into a projecting cross wing in the late 19th or early 20th century. The front of the building presents a mixed appearance, with single-storey, three-storey, and two-storey elements all under the same eaves line.

The former forge on the left features a wide 16-pane shop window and doorway on the right side. The 18th-century houses have an overall four-window front, with the second window from the left having first-floor windows that are blind or blocked. An original ground-floor window and doorway are located on the left, with a doorway slightly to the right. The post office has three shop windows (one in a blocked doorway) and two doorways, all completely refaced in the 20th century. Original window openings feature sashes with some glazing bars, though the second floor above the post office has 20th-century replacements. The public house, on the right, has an overall five-window front, a symmetrical three-window front with a central doorway, and a regular grouping of paired window openings under a half-timbered gable on the right. All windows are horned sashes with glazing bars. The interior was not inspected. While some 20th-century alterations are present, the building remains an impressive group overall.