History

Hotel by J. P. Seddon, his first work in Glamorgan. Constructed in 1852-3 by J. Brown of Stoke’s Croft, Bristol, for £1,339. Originally known as the Dunraven Arms Hotel (later the Southerndown Hotel), it was purpose built for the summer visitors to Southerndown. A part of the hotel was let out privately. A series of perspectives, plans, elevations, sections and details are held in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The plan (reproduced as a mirror image) shows the entrance to the E with cross passage running the length of the building. Garden front with raised terrace and windbreak. The original service wing and stables ran N from the NW angle of the house. These were demolished and replaced, probably late C19, by a wing running N from the NE angle. This necessitated moving the gate piers further N. During the C20, the hotel was sold and became the Welsh Sunshine Home for Blind Babies. Much alteration was undertaken to the interior during this period. Other changes which have occurred since 1918 include the removal of the stacks (except one), 2 attic dormers and the truncation of the gable finials. The garden front porch has been replaced.

Exterior

Gothic-revival style, 7-bay house of 2 storeys and an attic, with asymmetrical 2-span roof. L-shaped service wing to rear, butting NE angle. Constructed of random, hammer-dressed limestone under an asbestos slate roof with wide boarded eaves. One masonry stack partially survives towards the W end, set within the roof valley. String course at 1st floor level. The symmetrical garden front faces S and is 2 3 2 window. Central glazed door with overlight under a segmental arched head with corbels at shoulder height, flanked by windows. All within a C20 porch canopy on steel columns with hipped asbestos slate roof. Flanking the porch are pairs of windows. All the ground floor openings are recessed with chamfered surrounds and segmental heads, and contain PVCu glazing. The string course is in the form of a corbel table, obscured in centre by porch. Above this is a long panel with raised central lancet under segmental head, now infilled with concrete. The 1st floor windows and the infilled lancet are set in tall recessed panels with trefoiled heads. The windows have segmental heads. Central attic dormer with raised coping containing 2 small lights in recessed panels in a similar style to those below, and with a recessed cross in the apex.

The E entrance front faces the road. All the openings are offset to the R. Gabled Bath stone porch with pointed arch containing trefoiled overlight, and a cinquefoiled recessed opening above. Below is a C20 flat-roofed half-lit projection with doors in the S and N sides. The porch is flanked by single-light wooden windows with segmental heads in recessed panels. Aligned with these openings above the corbel table are 3 tall recessed panels with trefoiled heads incorporating windows to the 1st and attic storeys. The windows are similar to those on the ground floor. Small square headed light to R at attic level. The 2-storey service wing continues to the N and is advanced. It is 4-window, with 12-pane horned sashes to the ground floor with segmental heads and sandstone chamfered sills, and shorter 2-light casement windows with overlights to the 1st floor in the same openings. A further window is located on the S wall of the projection. To the N, the walling continues for a short distance as a boundary wall, and terminates in a pier with pyramidal coping. This is one of a pair of piers with wooden gates between.

The rear and W gable end are rendered and contain asymmetrically-placed PVCu windows with flat heads. The W gables each have a square boarded opening, asymmetrically placed. The W side of the service wing has a flat-roofed porch with half-lit door and window. There is a similar door above, probably a former fire escape, reached by concrete steps. To the R is a later inserted door at ground level. The N side of the service wing has a C20 half-lit door to the R flanked by a small light to the R and 12-pane horned sash to the L. Two small windows to upper storey.

Interior

The interior plan-form has been much altered. The central entrance hall contains the staircase, with flanking reception rooms and further reception rooms in rear wing. Good coving with billet detail.

Reasons for Listing

Listed because of its important place in the work of John Pollard Seddon, and a good example of a purpose-built Victorian hotel.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q29499085

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

• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)