History

Early C20. Architects Ivor Jones and Percy Thomas. Built for Sir Joseph Davies, Secretary of State in the government of Lloyd George, who reputedly spent many weekends here.

Exterior

Large Arts and Crafts house set in a terraced garden. Walls are roughcast rendered, dressings of Portland stone, rock-faced plinth; steep-pitched roof of Westmoreland slates in diminishing courses with slightly swept overhanging eaves, large moulded kneelers, narrow rendered stacks. All windows are mullioned with rectangular quarries in metal framed casements. 2 storeys. Front elevation has centre left entrance bay flanked by two gabled bays and end bay right. Gable left has 5-light first floor window above a flat-roofed canted bay window. Entrance bay has a 6-light first floor window close under eaves above the Tudor-arched doorway with keyblock and stepped hoodmould reached by 3 semicircular steps. Gable right projects forming a 2-storey bay window with 5 lights to each floor and one in each return. End bay right has a 3-light first floor window, blank below. Side garden elevation has 3-bay flat-roofed glazed loggia with roughcast columns to ground floor front with 3-light bedroom window above and to left a tall stack with tiled offsets in the angle with a projecting two-storey gabled bay which has 5-light windows to each floor. The rear elevation is dominated by a Tudor-style full-height canted bay staircase window with transoms and mullions. To service side is a courtyard with double garage, all walls rendered with slate coping.

Interior

Interior retains almost completely the original plan and fittings. Wide entrance hall with stairs to rear and service passage to right, the reception rooms opening off the hall with the large living room, 'lounge' on the plan, occupying the W side of the house with views to front and side garden and access to a loggia. Service rooms and kitchen and scullery are grouped round a side entrance at the end of the passage with back stairs to first floor. Upstairs the plan shows three main bedrooms, front with private bathroom, a maid's room, workroom and boxroom as well as sluice, WC and bathroom. All original doors are retained, 2 panelled doors with brass fittings. Parquet floors to hall and dining room. Moulded plasterwork to ceiling cornices and roses. The lounge has a low stone fireplace with Tudor arch; leading off is the originally part-glazed loggia now a wholly glazed conservatory. The staircase is panelled and lit by a large Elizabethan-style multipane 3-tiered window; a huge gilded mirror adjacent was part of the original fitting. Dining room fireplace is of marble with polished wood surround. To rear is a 'butler's pantry' retaining all its original glazed cupboards. Upstairs the airing cupbaord and a bathroom retain their original copper heating pipes. Roof space is divided by brick walls; trusses have collars, ties and queen posts with raking struts.

Reasons for Listing

Listed as a fine high quality individually designed early C20 domestic house, the early work of a notable Welsh architect and with interesting historical associations.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q29503391

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

• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy