History

Our building began life as the home of Tavistock Printing Company & Gazette in 1907. 

The building was part of the Duke of Bedford’s major redevelopment of the town in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  Unusually, for a commercial building, the architect (Arthur Southcombe Parker) design was in the Arts and Crafts Style. It is easy to see some of the details on the exterior resonant of the Arts and Crafts philosophy where craftsmen worked in a traditional manner.

The Printworks: Architecture of an Era

The exterior of the building remains remarkably true to its original form, appearing much as it did when its doors first opened in 1907. Within its walls are more than 900 individual window panes, one of which bears the engraved initials of the final Editor — a mark he inscribed during his early years as a young apprentice.

In the early twentieth century, the success of a printing works depended heavily on the availability of abundant natural light. With this in mind, the architect designed generous west‑facing windows above the ground‑floor presses and installed an unbroken expanse of glazing along the upper floor, ensuring that the compositors working there benefited from the fullest possible illumination.