A Grade-II listed Elizabethan boarding house will reopen to the public in Plymouth this month following a 6-year-long restoration process that uncovered the building’s original purpose.

Elizabethan House in Plymouth is among the city’s most significant historic buildings, dating from 1599. It has undergone a 1.7m restoration, funded by English Heritage and the National Lottery, courtesy of heritage architects Dittrich Hudson Vasetti in collaboration with James Mackintosh Architects.

The timber-framed structure is in the heart of Plymouth’s Barbican Port and survived the razing of the docks during the Blitz, making it one of the city’s oldest surviving buildings.

During the practice’s restoration process, it discovered the structure was purpose-built as a boarding house for dockworkers rather than as a merchant’s private home, as long thought.
Work included removing a back wall to shore up the building and restoring the house’s original oak beams, spiral staircase, and earth plaster walls.

Elizabethan House reopens to the public on 20 July 2021 – but you can get a sneak preview of the restoration above.

17-19 New St, Plymouth PL1 2LS, United Kingdom

Guests can spend the night at Gaudí’s Casa Vicens this autumn