Bryn Eithin

Cadw's description

Location

Set back from the road in wooded grounds, opposite the junction with Victoria Park.

History

Built in 1889 for a Miss Gregory, the house was designed by Gerald Horsley, architect, of London, and may have been his first independent commission after he left the office of Norman Shaw. It is now used as a nursing home.

Exterior

The house adopts a free Elizabethan style, and is planned with a central hall flanked by gabled wings to the entrance front, with a service wing on the main axis to the W. Main range is coursed and squared rock faced stone with freestone dressings, and the plain tiled roof has oversailing eaves and brick axial stacks (with star-shaped shafts to main hall chimney). Glazed lantern with ogival leaded cupola surmounts the roof over the hall range; service wing has tile-hanging with scalloped bands in upper storey. Leaded windows throughout.

Entrance front: shallow coped gabled wings to either side of short hall range, the entrance set to the right of the left hand (W) gable. Caveto moulded architrave to door of recessed porch, with curved hood mould. Small 2-light mullioned window along side it, and 3-light mullioned window on each floor above. Inner doorway is segmentally arched and has ribbed and nailed wood door. Hall has big 6-light mullioned and transomed windows above; a continuous sill band links these upper windows with the 4-light mullioned and transomed lights to ground floor of this gable. Service wing has wood mullioned windows of 4 and 5 lights, the transomed window to the left of the ground floor projecting slightly in a moulded wood case, and the tile hanging of the upper storey above it thrown slightly forward as a hood. Upper windows immediately below the eaves.

East elevation: big canted 2 storeyed bay window with embattled parapet and mullioned window with 2 transoms to ground floor, a single transom above; side doorway up a flight of stone steps, with segmentally arched doorway with curved hood mould, and ribbed nailed door. Truncated stone stack to the right of the doorway. To its right, wood mullioned and transomed windows in a 2-storeyed, rendered bay window.

Rear elevation: mullioned windows of 2 and 3 lights in the wide left hand gable, with shallow canted mullioned and transomed bay window beyond and upper window of 1 and 4 lights high-set beneath the eaves, with a continuous sill band. Crow stepped gable return. Service wing set back, with mullioned windows on each floor, not always aligned. 3 gabled 4-light dormer windows set high in roof. The heads of the principal transomed lower windows are cut into the tile hanging of the upper storey. In the return gable of the service wing, single storey outbuildings are linked by a lean-to outbuilding to form a small courtyard.

Interior

Although change of use has resulted in some internal alterations, much of the original character remains: the entrance hall adopts a late C17 style: wood panelled, segmental arches divide the hall from lobbies to either side; the open-well staircase has turned balusters and leads to a large upper gallery, with coupled shafts carrying segmental arches above the stair wall. Dado panelling, and segmentally arched stone fireplace with panelled arcaded overmantle. Dining room opens off the hall, and has painted panelled dado and ceiling beams. Panelled doors with fluted pilaster architraves; fireplace with Corinthian columns to overmantle; deep frieze with low relief, stylised railed foliage decoration.

Reason for designation

In its planning, detailing and use of materials, Bryn Eithin is an excellent example of the free application of Neo-Vernacular ideas in a building planned as a scaled-down country house. It is also an important early example of the work of Gerald Horsley.