Warehouse At Sx 8780 5155, Western Warehouse Of Hawke And Sons

This is a warehouse, likely originating in the 14th century with a 17th-century basement, and with the upper section rebuilt in the mid to late 19th century. It is located in Dartmouth, on Mayors Avenue. The building's construction incorporates local stone rubble, and the roof is covered in corrugated asbestos, replacing the original slate.

The building is rectangular, situated with its length running perpendicular to the street. It features a stone-vaulted basement and a warehouse above. The rear two bays of the upper floor are partitioned off, divided along a central axis.

The front of the warehouse is now obscured by a 20th-century building. Access to both the basement and the upper floor is gained through 20th-century doorways in the right (east) side wall, from the adjacent eastern warehouse (which is not included in the listing). Six arches of the basement vault are visible externally on the east side, indicating they were originally open. Bays are defined by stone piers, although the spaces between them were filled with stone in the 19th century. The roof is hipped at both front and rear. The rear end wall has large openings with timber lintels. A blocked wide basement doorway is present, above which are paired loading doorways, both containing old plank doors. To the right of these is a shuttered and barred window. At basement level, original tiny round-headed single lights are located at each end; the left one has lost its original voussoirs, but both are framed by round-headed stone surrounds cut from a single piece of stone, and contain iron bar and saddlebars. Similar windows are found on the west side wall.

The basement interior consists of six barrel vaults spanning the building, connected by a central wide segmental arch flanked by smaller arches. Upper-floor divisions are defined by stone walls, and the crosswall and front end wall incorporate similar segmental arches, now blocked. The roof, dating from the mid to late 19th century, features tie-beam trusses with king posts and queen struts. Most of these trusses are set into the blocking of the eastern bays rather than the stone piers on that side.

Historical records suggest the vaulted basement was likely originally built for the wine trade, significant to Dartmouth during the medieval period. The warehouses on Mayors Avenue and at No. 26 Foss Street were built as waterfront structures and are historically important due to their connection with the port's maritime history. Mayors Avenue was laid out in 1876-77 on the site of what was formerly the original waterfront.