Prospect Place

Prospect Place comprises three shops with offices and accommodation above, originally a single house, located on the Quay in Bideford. The building's core dates to the late 17th or early 18th century, with significant alterations and divisions in the early or mid-19th century, followed by further subdivision and joining of upper floors later on.

The structure has solid rendered walls, with the possibility of a timber frame in the third-storey front wall. The roofs are slate, featuring perforated red crested ridge tiles on the front range of number 21, and non-perforated tiles on the rear roof of number 23. A brick chimney, partly rendered and featuring a raised band, is located on the ridge of number 21. Additional cream-brick chimneys are visible on the right-hand end of number 23 and its rear gable, dating to the late 19th or early 20th century.

The original plan was likely three rooms wide. Gable wings extend to the rear of numbers 22 and 23 towards Queen Street, with the wing at number 23 likely dating back to at least the 18th century. The building is three storeys high and features a five-window front. Number 23 has raised quoins, while number 22 has painted quoins, oddly positioned to align with the window jambs of number 21. Modern shop fronts are present, with remnants of raised quoins at either end of number 23, though cut back on the left. Upper floor windows are flush-framed sashes, mostly with six panes, with the lower second floor sashes at numbers 22 and 23 being an exception. Number 21’s sashes have horns. A moulded board runs below the eaves. A 19th-century oval plaque inscribed "Prospect Place" is fixed to the front of number 22. A second-storey window at number 23 features barred sashes within a recessed box frame, with six panes below and three above.

The first-floor room in number 22 retains an original moulded plaster ceiling set between two plastered beams, featuring a central oval enclosed by shaped panels and a moulded cornice. In the front room (now subdivided) on the first floor of number 23, there's a plain dado with moulded base and rail, along with panelled shutters. The second floor was originally a garret, boxed out at the front in the 19th century, with original roof trusses plastered over. A wooden chimneypiece, likely original, is present in the right-hand room, featuring a moulded architrave, pulvinated frieze, and moulded cornice. A two-panelled door with strap hinges, probably dating to the 18th century, is found on the second floor of the rear projection at number 23. The interior of number 21 was not inspected.

The building is part of the Bideford Bridge Trust's Bridgeland Street development, with the earliest lease dating back to 1707, leased to Thomas Johns, an anchor smith, with a 60-foot frontage.