Situated in St.Andrew's Street behind the modern magistrates court,this  house is known to have existed as far back as 1609 when the first recorded occupier was one William Parker although from clues that have been found at the site it appears likely that there was a building here since the early 1500s.Whatever it's age,it seems to have been a property of some importance in Tudor times as several Mayors of Plymouth resided here in throughout the 1600s  including the above named William Parker who held the Office in 1601-02,after which he returned to his primary occupation as a sea captain and privateer before returning to Plymouth as a merchant,hence the name "Merchant's House".Alas,he was one of life's adventurers and seemed unable to keep his feet on dry land for very long,later returning to sea,and died on an expedition to the East Indies in 1618 although the Parker family  retained ownership of the house until about 1632.

Over the next two to three hundred years,the house was put to a variety of business uses and slowly,along with the rest of the buildings in St.Andrew's Street,became somewhat delapidated and rundown.Most of them had  been demolished by the early 1900s leaving this one house standing alone.In 1970,the city council bought this sole survivor and over the next four or five years,set about the task of restoring it to it's former glory as a fine example of Tudor architecture.