1-29, PRINCES ROAD

A terrace of fifteen houses, probably dating to the 1860s, built as workers’ housing as part of the development around Ellacombe Green in Torquay. The terrace was presented to the town in 1859 by Sir Lawrence Palk, likely designed by JW Rowell. The construction utilizes snecked local grey limestone rubble with brick dressings and slate roofs, featuring stacks with brick shafts.

The houses overlook Ellacombe Green and are slightly smaller in scale than those on Ellacombe Road. The plan arrangement includes one room per house, with a small, unheated service wing projecting at a right angle to the rear, with a narrow yard adjacent. The houses are largely identical in appearance, though Nos. 1 and 29 are distinguished by their double-block construction, and No. 15 features a differing design.

Each house has a two-storey elevation with a gabled dormer window. The original vertically boarded front doors, some of which have been replaced, are set within crank-arched doorways, with a triangular light at the top. Ground-floor windows have crank-arched voussoirs and are glazed with a three-light, high-transomed casement. Matching two-light, similarly-glazed first-floor windows are also set within crank-arched voussoirs. No. 1, on the left, comprises two blocks: a standard design to the right with a front door to the right, and a projecting one-window wing with a half-hipped roof and matching windows to the left. No. 29 is the same design but with a mirrored plan. No. 15, centrally located, is gabled to the front and features a pointed-arched tympanum with polychromatic detail above the first-floor window. The interior remains largely unexamined but may contain features of interest. The terrace forms part of an exceptionally well-planned and designed group of mid-19th century workers' housing.