History

Former convalescent home, now home for the elderly, 1914-18 by Philip H Lockwood. Erected by the trustees of the estate of John Jones of Wrexham, a brewer with his brother William, and named the 'William and John Jones Convalescent Home', intended for 34 men and women, principally working-class inhabitants of the parishes of Wrexham and Rhosddu. The architect was chosen by competition, the builder was W E Samuels of Wrexham. Total cost was £4,567 and it opened in 1918 to receive 25 wounded soldiers and sailors. The home was sold to Denbighshire County Council in 1951, refurbished as a home for the elderly, and renamed Pen-y-Nant.

Exterior

Convalescent home, in red brick (stretcher bond) with ashlar dressings in sandstone from Berwig quarry, Minera. Slate roofs with deep flat eaves. Two storeys, two parallel ranges in neo-Georgian style. Subtly asymmetrical NW front, with stone centrepiece projecting from wings with slightly varied fenestration but then contained by terminal crosswings that match and are emphatic by virtue of having hipped roofs steeper in pitch than the main roof, and with bell-cast or outswept eaves. Tooled stone plinth, ashlar raised band right across, flush quoins to crosswings. Windows are white-painted small-paned sashes, generally 12-pane, those to the ground floor cambered-headed with ashlar keystones, those to the upper floor placed under the eaves. Stone sills. Chimneys are generally on roof slopes, brick, substantial, and with corbelled top stages. Stone centrepiece has deep timber pediment, first floor 12-pane sash with moulded sill as top of a framed plaque, and fine doorcase. Moulded architrave ramped up at head to triple keystone, and heavy projecting cornice on long consoles. Cornice projects from the raised band. Fielded 6-panel door with lead glazing bars to overlight. Wings vary left and right. To right, 2 ground floor sashes, above left (not aligned), a 4-12-4-pane triple sash, and a sash. Wing to left has 3 windows each floor, similar sashes but ground floor right has triple sash. Crosswings have one first floor triple sash, and two ground floor 15-pane sashes, similar to those in wings but taller.
Service range to left is to similar scale and detail, but without the ashlar dressings except sills and ground floor keysytones. 3-window range, then crosswing projecting much further than others, with similar bellcast hipped roof. One-window range in SW side wall and NW end wall. NE side has slightly projected crosswing to left with one sash over 2 sashes, while right just has one ground floor sash.
Garden front has long main range 1-1-8-1-1 window-range at first floor, generally 12-pane sashes but triple sashes in penultimate bays, which project slightly and have bellcast hipped roofs. Ground floor is a long lean-to of 2 verandas with a porch between. Porch has triple sash to front 5-15-5-pane, and half-glazed doors into each veranda. Verandas have 3 pairs of timber posts and 15-pane sashes within, ends are brick enclosed with 15-pane sash each. Set back at each end and linked by narrow recessed bay with half-glazed door and first floor roundel window, are 2-window gabled crosswings, much plainer in detail.

Reasons for Listing

Included as a well-designed convalescent home in the neo-Georgian style, showing considerable fluency and freedom in handling.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q29497096

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

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  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)