45, Gold Street

This is a largely 18th-century house, with possible elements from the 17th century, located near the River Lowman in Tiverton. It is now used as a restaurant with accommodation above. The building is constructed of red brick with a natural slate roof and cast-iron rainwater goods.

The plan consists of a room on either side of the front entrance, plus a stair cell and one additional room. A staircase is positioned behind the left-hand room. A rear lateral chimney stack is present, along with a diagonal stack to the right. A single-storey wing, built of early brick, extends to the rear left at a right angle to the main range; it may have originally served as the kitchen. The principal first floor rooms are accompanied by closets.

The front elevation is painted brickwork, two stories high with an attic and five bays. The roof is half-hipped to the right. Rusticated stucco quoins define the corners. The ground floor is set at a lower pavement level. A central entrance features a pilastered doorcase and a wide fascia above; the 8-pane door has two glazed panes at the top. An early 20th-century shop front, with a small-pane shop window and a niche cornice, is located to the left of the entrance. To the right are two hornless sash windows with 8 panes plus margin panes. Flat, segmental-headed arches with keystones are above these windows. The first floor has four hornless sash windows with 8 panes plus margin panes, and a blocked-out window above the front door. Two raking dormer windows are present, each with a two-leaf casement containing two panes. A recessed bay on the Gold Street elevation contains a door to the left and a passageway entrance leading to Sharland’s Court to the right. An 8-pane plus margin pane hornless sash window is located above, set within a roundheaded brick arch without a keystone; this feature is part of No. 45, which has a flying freehold over the passageway.

The left return elevation, facing the river, is three stories and three windows wide. It has a hipped and gable-ended roof. Two original 18-pane hornless sash windows remain. A single top window in the gable is set within a segmental-headed arch with a brick keystone. Four other windows are hornless sash windows with 8 panes plus margin panes.

Internally, the house retains early 18th-century features, including six- and two-panel doors with fielded panels. The left-hand ground-floor room has an early 18th-century plaster cornice and a decorated plaster ceiling with an oval motif. The original dogleg staircase remains, including a separate flight to the attic, and features turned balusters, a flat-hand rail for the main stair, and a splat balustrade for the attic flight. A plaster oval with a central leaf motif decorates the stairwell. The first-floor left-hand room has an original fluted chimney piece and a new mantle shelf, as well as a blocked doorway leading to No. 43. One original chimney-piece is present in the attic, featuring an early 18th-century cast-iron grate.