Minerva Inn (Number 31)

The Minerva Inn, located at number 31 Looe Street in Plymouth, is a public house that was originally two merchants' houses, dating from the late 16th century or early 17th century. The building features a stucco exterior on a timber-framed jettied front and has steep dry slate roofs. The left-hand roof is half-hipped, while the roof of the adjoining number 32 has a front gable that projects and is supported by moulded brackets, with a central turned pendant. There are rendered stacks, one on the left and a lateral stack at the rear right. The building has a deep U-shaped plan that includes rear wings with fronts that face the street.

The Minerva Inn stands four storeys tall, with the upper floor partly in the roof space. The first and second floors are jettied, and each front has a single-window range. Number 31 features 20th-century horned sash windows, with sashes that have glazing bars on the first and third floors. Number 32 has off-centre two-light casements with glazing bars on the first and second floors and a three-light casement at the centre of the gable. The ground floor of number 31 has an early 19th-century shopfront with a fascia and narrow pilasters, while number 32 has a fascia over its shop window that includes a group of three late 19th-century horned sashes.

The interior of number 31 includes a pole staircase and a small section of 16th or 17th-century panelling on the stairs, along with part of a late 16th-century plaster ceiling. The Minerva Inn is part of a significant group of 17th and 18th-century houses.