History

Hotel, formerly three houses of an unusual stepped castellated stuccoed terrace of 1839, known as Spring Gardens Terrace. Built for William Rees solicitor, probably to designs by William Owen, the terrace originally comprised six two-bay houses and one, No 9, of three bays. Nos 8 and 8a, two houses with a fine two-storey cast-iron veranda were owned by Rees. Each house has a mansard roofed attic behind battlements, and the windows in a sunk panel to right of the door bay (except for No 9 which has two sunk panels). They had full basements and the doors reached up steps over the basement areas. The heavy two-panel doors are similar to doors in Victoria Place.

Exterior

Hotel, formerly three terraced houses, painted stucco with slate mansard roofs behind battlemented parapets and each with rendered brick right end stack. Two storeys, attic and basement, each house is of two bays, the right bay set in a large square-headed recess which extends upwards from ground floor sill level. Attic windows hidden by parapet. Main windows were originally small-paned hornless sashes with margin lights and slate sills: narrow sash to first floor left over arched doorway with door of two heavy panels under radiating-bar fanlight, wider sash to first floor right over a big tripartite sash, and with cambered headed basement window below. The basement doors were under a broad flight of stone steps to the front doors.
The first house is the hotel main entry with fine flight of stone steps with scrolled cast-iron uprights to side rail, original two-panel door, one panel glazed. Ground floor big window is replaced with triple plate glass sash-window, and upper windows are also replaced with false glazing bars. C20 basement opening, boarded over 2005.
The second house has had the doorway and steps removed and the entry stuccoed over. Basement has 12-pane horned sash. Ground floor big window is replaced with triple plate glass sash-window, and upper windows are also replaced with false glazing bars.
The third house has original small-paned tripartite sash to ground floor but the upper windows shortened. Six stone steps up to original 2-panel door with radiating-bar fanlight. Original plain iron railings to steps, scrolls to each side of platform at top. Basement window has been replaced by a door. To right of steps are spearhead iron railings like those on Nos 5, 8-8A and 9 on low stone copings.
The rear has large C20 additions, in red brick and flat-roofed behind first two houses, stuccoed behind third.
The railings to the first two houses are late C19 cast-iron: ornate with a band of rosettes at top and bottom, a spearhead to every fourth rail, the tops of each first and third linked in an arch over a smaller spearhead. The top and bottom rails are angled to the slope. Ornate terminal features and gatepiers with moulded uprights, embossed stars in frieze and ogee-pointed cap with a top finial. A flat terminal at each end, a pair of openwork gate piers in front of main entry. The railings have been cut for basement access in front of first house, but cut section remains (2005) in area. A hinged section of rail in front of second house former basement entry.

Interior

Interior much altered on ground floors, upper floors not inspected.

Reasons for Listing

Included as a substantial part of Spring Gardens Terrace, one of the best terraced rows in the town.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Pembroke House Hotel including area railings official website
• Wikidata Q29507562

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

• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)