Miller & Carter Steakhouse, Plymouth

Grade-II listed 1/5/75, interior and exterior listed. List Entry No 138 6423, Legacy System No 473810. Large warehouse, now a public house. 1650 by John Rattenburg, extended late C20. Plymouth limestone rubble walls; new dry slate hipped roof. Large rectangular plan plus C20 wing at rear centre. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys; 9-window range, the 3 centre windows now sheltered under an open gabled balconied projection. C20 windows and doors. Left-hand return has a blocked round-arched opening towards the rear. INTERIOR: C17 features survive in the end walls including a blocked chamfered fireplace and the remains of a winder stair at the left-hand end. There is a segmental-arched fireplace at the other end. There are some re-used original oak roof trusses with curved feet, lapped and dove-tailed collars and evidence of threaded purlins. HISTORY: 1667 bought by Harbour Commissioners and used as victualling and naval storehouse; 1697 became a gun wharf for Board of Ordnance; 1756 adapted as a naval hospital; 1768-74 was the factory of William Cookworthy, 1st maker of porcelain in England (1st patent 1768). Despite conversion, this building makes a positive contribution to the character of the harbour area, an early example of a warehouse in England, and its interest is enhanced by its leading role in the development of porcelain manufacture.