Kingdon House, formerly the premises of the Tavistock Printing Company

Kingdon House, originally built as a purpose-built print works and newspaper office in 1906, was designed by Arthur Southcombe Parker and is now an arts and community centre. The building is constructed of random squared rubble with ashlar dressings, topped with slate roofs and featuring a stone stack. It occupies a roughly square corner site, with a curved corner at the junction of Pym Street and North Street.

The building is positioned on rising ground, with two full storeys facing North Street and a taller section to the rear on Pym Street. The North Street elevation, of four bays, features a curved corner bay on the ground floor with a canted bay above. The ground floor has semi-circular arched openings, three of which contain three-light timber casements. A fourth opening contains half-glazed double doors. All arched sections have multi-paned glazing. Cast-iron rainwater goods are present, with a moulded rectangular rainwater head. The first floor has three windows with three lights of rectangular leaded glazing, set high under a timber modillion cornice. The canted corner bay has a four-light stone-mullioned window that turns the corner, with a string course and parapet above.

The parapet continues around the corner to the Pym Street elevation, which is of three irregular bays. The land rises from right to left; a narrow blind bay is followed by a slightly projecting, tall stack, stepping out over a Diocletian window in a keyed opening with glazing matching the North Street elevation. The parapet terminates to the side of a final, wide, gabled bay, which is of two storeys but rises a full storey higher than the North Street elevation. A ground-floor doorway is defined by an elaborate classical timber doorcase with panelled reveals, a broken pediment, and swags. To the right of this is a two-light stone mullioned window, and the first floor features a central three-light stone-mullioned window, with the string course acting as a cill band and a plan hood mould with a visible relieving arch above. The remains of former Art-Nouveau style lettering, which formerly read “[Tavistock] PRINTING [Company],” runs along the parapet.

Internally, the former print hall was located on the North Street side, while the newspaper offices were positioned to the Pym Street side, accessed through a separate entrance. Floors are supported on steel beams, and the roofs have timber king-post trusses, now partially obscured by suspended ceilings. The interior has been subdivided into meeting rooms and offices, but original details remain, including wrought-iron window furniture and stained glass panels.