13, The Quay

This is a merchant's house, likely built around 1639 on land leased to Edward Spurway, with significant alterations in the 17th, 19th, and 20th centuries. The construction is mixed, featuring thick walls of local stone rubble and exposed plastered timber framing, with a stone rubble stack and a 19th-century brick chimneyshaft topped by a slate roof. The house was built facing The Quay, with its right side wall against Duke Street. Originally, the main entrance was from Duke Street, behind what is now the shop.

The exterior presents a late 19th-century appearance, but the underlying 17th-century structure is evident in the jettied upper floors. The left side wall corbels out to support these jetties, and a hoodmould just below the corbelling for the second-floor jetty suggests the survival of a date plaque. The ground floor now contains a 20th-century shop front which extends around the corner onto Duke Street, supported by an iron column. A recessed doorway has a good bottom-panelled glazed door with oval glazing bars. Above, 20th-century windows are arranged as 3-light casements on the first floor and simple sash windows on the second. A jetty on the second floor is supported by shaped timber brackets, with the bottom corner of the bressummer carved with an unusual bead-and-reel motif. The roof has a plain gable. The Duke Street return features 20th-century windows.

The interior carpentry is largely concealed by 19th and 20th-century plaster and fireplaces have been blocked. However, the 17th-century structure appears to be well-preserved, aside from the first floor. A late 17th-century staircase from the first to the second floor exhibits a closed string, panelled square newel posts, a moulded flat handrail, and large turned balusters. A late 17th-century segmental timber arch with a keystone connects through the party wall to the adjoining property at No. 12. The attic reveals the bottoms of the principals from the likely original 3-bay roof structure.

Historically, this building was probably constructed as one of a pair with No. 12. It is located on land reclaimed for housing and port facilities as part of a Town Corporation scheme that began in 1585. This area became a fashionable location in the 1630s, and the surviving 17th-century houses represent some of the finest merchants' houses in Devon of that period.