16 And 17, Fairfax Place

A pair of shops and houses, likely dating from the mid to late 18th century, with some 20th-century alterations. The front is painted Flemish-bond brick, while the other walls are probably stone rubble and plastered. The roof is slate-covered, and there are disused stacks.

The buildings are double-depth and one room wide, with a symmetrical five-window front on the first floor. The ground floor is plastered and has been lightly blocked out to resemble ashlar up to a moulded cornice on the left side of the shop fronts. There are remnants of a late 19th-century unified timber shop front across both properties. The shop front includes a canted bay window flanked by plain pilasters, and a doorway to the right with a recessed, part-glazed, six-panel door and a plain overlight. A projecting moulded cornice above the fascia indicates that No. 16 originally had a matching shop front. The first floor has flat brick arches with projecting keystones over blind centre windows, and 12-pane sash windows. Some windows on the first floor, specifically two to the right, were enlarged in the late 19th century and now have sashes without glazing bars. A brick plat band is visible at the second-floor level, with projecting pilasters at each end. The deep timber eaves cornice has a frieze of pear-drop decoration. The rear elevation has paired doorways with 20th-century doors, and the sash windows here are mostly 20th-century replacements.

The interior was not inspected, but is likely of interest; No. 16 is said to contain a good staircase. Fairfax Place was created on land reclaimed from the estuary in the late 16th century and later became an important trading street connecting Bayards Cove and the New Quay at Boat Float.