115-131, VAUXHALL STREET

Nos. 115-131 on Vauxhall Street in Plymouth is a terrace of local authority housing completed in 1898, designed by James Paton, the Borough Engineer and Architect. The buildings feature painted brick walls, concrete floors and staircases, and dry slate roofs with crested clay ridge tiles, along with brick end stacks. The layout consists of a double-depth plan with rear wings that enclose courtyards, forming two similar blocks that occupy two street corners. The block on the right has a canted corner that returns into How Street. Each house has a central through passage that provides access to one-bedroom flats and a staircase leading to similar upper flats.

The exterior is three storeys high and displays a three-by-three window arrangement, with paired windows in the side bays of each unit on the ground and first floors. The original horned sash windows have glazing bars only in the upper parts, and the first and second floors feature shouldered lintels. The canted corner has a one-window range with a blind gable end to its right. Each unit has a central doorway with an overlight and a panelled door. To the right of the left-hand doorway is a granite plaque commemorating the opening of the block on December 5, 1898, by Alderman John Peltick, with John Paton as the designer and Wakeham Brothers as the contractors. The interior has not been inspected but is said to remain much as it was originally built. This terrace is a rare and virtually complete example of early local authority housing and is part of a planned group with housing on How Street and Looe Street.