Riviera Apartments

The centrepiece of Den Crescent still presents a Greek Doric colonnade at pavement level and an Ionic pediment above the windows. For most of two centuries this Grade II listed block was where Teignmouth gathered. Five self-catering penthouses now occupy the roof that once held a cinema garden, looking out over the Den and the open water.

Exeter architect Andrew Patey designed the building in 1826 as the Public Assembly, Reading and Billiard Rooms, the planned focus of the seafront crescent. The ballroom was said to be large enough for 100 couples to dance. In 1871 it became home to the East Devon and Teignmouth Club.

After a spell as a hotel the interior was rebuilt in 1933-34 as the Riviera Cinema, which reopened on 16 July 1934 with 901 seats, a café and a roof garden. Capacity was cut in 1970 and the cinema closed in March 2000. The historic frontage stayed. The apartments were built above it.

Guests reach the penthouses by a private lift from a secure entrance. Each apartment has an open living space, a full kitchen and a balcony facing the water. Three look fully across the seafront; two also take in the Teign estuary. The largest sleeps eight. A private car park sits with the building. Teignmouth station is about a five-minute walk and the beach is immediately in front.

The point of staying here is the combination of that frontage and those views. You are on the top of a public building that has been assembly rooms, club, hotel and cinema, not in a new block dropped onto the front.