1 and 2, Shaftesbury Villas

1 and 2 Shaftesbury Villas are a pair of villas, now part of Plymouth College, built around the 1850s to 1860s, likely by architect George Wightwick. They are designed in the Italianate style and constructed of stucco with dry slate roofs that feature moulded eaves cornices and modillion cornices on most of the pedimented gables. The buildings have an irregular plan with articulated elevations and include several stuccoed axial, gable, and slightly-projecting lateral stacks.

The exterior consists of two storeys plus attics. The east front has a mid-floor string and is arranged in an unequal pattern of 1:2:3 bays. On the left, there is a projecting three-storey, two-bay pedimented cross wing, while the central bays are recessed and topped with a modillion cornice. To the left of the central bays is a narrower entrance bay that features a single-storey porch at the angle and a lower projecting two-storey wing with coved eaves on the right. The upper floors of the cross wing have paired sash windows, and there is a round-arched sash window above the porch, which has a moulded cornice and a round-arched doorway with a pair of panelled doors and a plain glazed fanlight. The next bay has tripartite windows, and the ground floor features a string that becomes a moulded hood on consoles. The right-hand wing has three closely grouped sashes with similar detailing. The right-hand return includes two round-arched stair windows with original hornless sashes that have glazing bars, and most other openings also retain their original sashes.

The interior has not been inspected. These villas are part of a well-preserved L-shaped layout of particularly lavish mid-19th century villas that showcase busy Italianate stucco detail, as noted by Pevsner.