Quay House (Premises Of The Diy Supplies Exeter Limited)

Quay House (Premises of the DIY Supplies Exeter Ltd)

A transit shed on the former dockside, dating from 1679–80. The building is almost rectangular in plan, approximately 100 feet long and 20 feet deep, slightly deeper at the left end. The end and rear walls up to first floor level are stone rubble; above this, the walls are of locally made red brick in random bonding. The front features an open timber arcade over which there is a cantilevered canopy, underbuilt in red brick in the late 19th or early 20th century. The roof is of Welsh slate with a hipped left-hand end; the right end is incorporated into the adjoining Prospect Inn.

Originally, the ground storey was open-fronted with 10 bays formed by an arcade of timber posts. The main cross-beams are cantilevered out to support the projecting first floor, over which the main roof is carried down as a canopy over the dock in front. The cantilevered beams may originally not have supported a floor under the canopy, allowing goods to be transferred directly from the first floor to lighters in the dock below. An 8-foot-wide doorway in the left-hand end wall provides access to the quay at ground floor level. Both ground and first floors were originally unpartitioned, but around 1700 some partitions were inserted on the first floor. The ground behind the building is higher, almost reaching first floor level. The right-hand 3 bays are now incorporated into the adjoining Prospect Inn.

The original open front, now set back inside, has 10 wide bays with unstopped ovolo-moulded arcade posts, the moulding continued on the lintels. A deep canopy is carried on main cross-beams cantilevered forward and chamfered with scroll stops, with joists supporting the floor above. The dock below has been filled in, and the canopy is entirely underbuilt with a late 19th or early 20th-century red brick front wall enclosing the original open front. This front wall features 5 small four-light segmental arched windows and 3 doorways.

The original roof survives intact, with softwood principal rafters morticed and pegged at the apex. The collars are halved, pegged and nailed to the faces of the principals. The original trenched purlins remain intact. The principal rafters are straight and set into the upper courses of the rear wall; at the front they are carried down over upper wall posts to form the deep canopy supported on the main floor cross-beams cantilevered forward over the arcade. The cross-beams are chamfered with scroll stops; their joists are unchamfered. On the first floor are boarded stud partitions inserted around 1700, a flight of stairs at the front, and a doorway at the left-hand end giving access to the first floor.

The transit shed stands on a quay wall now underground because the dock has been filled in. Recent excavations have revealed the stone quay wall, approximately 3.2 metres high, built on oak foundation piles. The quay may have been built in 1565–66 at the same time as Exeter Canal. The dock was filled in around 1700 when the transit shed was subdivided into separate stores. The transit shed originally served as a covered quay, with the upper floor probably used for temporary storage of goods delayed in transit. A 17th-century transit shed-warehouse of this type built on a public quay may be unique in Britain.