Mintons Woods Way

Mintons and Woods Way is a villa, likely built around 1835. It has been subdivided and features a plastered exterior with hipped slate roofs and stacks that have deep projecting cornices, some with original octagonal pots. The building has a rectangular double-depth main block with an entrance on the south side and a north-east service wing at right angles.

The villa is two storeys high, with deep eaves and verges supported by moulded brackets, and a band along the eaves and verges. The front has three bays, with the central bay projecting forward and gabled. A flat-roofed porch in the center has pilaster strips, a platband, and plain architraves around the openings. The round-headed doorway features a recessed four-panel front door with timber panelling above. This door is flanked by round-headed sash windows. The central first-floor window is recessed and has a small-pane sash with radial glazing bars, while the ground-floor window to the right is a 12-pane sash, and the first-floor window has Venetian shutters.

The garden elevation also has three bays, with canted bay windows on the ground floor and a tent-roof verandah supported by posts, featuring a floor of octagonal tiles. This verandah extends for two bays along the entrance front.

Although the interior was not inspected, it has been noted to contain fine plaster ceilings and interesting wall and floor tiling, which were added after the building was purchased by Herbert Minton, the tile-maker, in 1856. Some of the wall tiles were designed by Pugin. The villa is similar in detail to Singleton, located across the road, and is shown on the 1866 Ordnance Survey map as 'Belmont'. It remains an unspoiled example of one of the earlier villas in Torquay.