Tywyn & District War Memorial Hospital

Cadw's description

Location

In its own grounds E of the junction with Ffordd Cadfan.

History

Built 1920-22 by F. Howarth, architect of Tywyn, as a war memorial funded by public subscription. The contractor was Hughes & Edwards of Tywyn.

Exterior

A late Arts-and-Crafts style hospital of whitened roughcast with graded-slate roof on swept eaves, with brick stacks and a ridge louvre. Most windows are replacements. The long single-storey block has a cranked plan with rear wings. At the L end of the front block is a former house, which has a mansard roof and a central brick chimney. The central entrance has a half-lit panel door under a segmental head and framed by a wider shallow segmental arch. It is flanked by pairs of windows. Two raked roof dormers have wider windows. To the R of the house is an archway (R), with a window to its R, then an unusual porch with a stepped gable crowned by a ball finial, octagonal buttresses, a round arch with keystone, and a round-headed doorway with overlight incorporating double-leaf doors with small-pane glazing to upper panels. Further R are 2 square windows, then a simple full-height buttress and 6 taller windows. From here the plan angles slightly forward. A gabled porch has splayed buttresses, a round arch with triple keystone and a stone tablet inscribed 'Towyn Cottage Hospital'. Inside the porch double half-glazed doors have half-glazed side panels and overlights. The porch is flanked by original round-headed windows with stained glass heads and 2-light small-pane casements. To the R of the porch are 3 more windows, of which the end window is under a canopy attached to a later C20 extension, which has a basement storey of snecked stone as the ground level falls away here.

Rear elevations are mostly of whitened brick with replacement windows. A 1½-storey rear wing has a segmental-headed stair window and 2 hipped roof dormers with 2-light small-pane windows. It has a lower gabled projection to the end and a flat-roof corridor link to service buildings. To its R is a brick wing extended in the later C20. Further L is a 2-storey wing at a splayed angle, with further extensions beyond.

Interior

The entrance lobby has a plastered groin vault in its central bay. Its side bays have fitted wooden benches. In the L-hand bay is a classical wooden war memorial and a fireplace. On the rear wall is a 1939-45 war memorial with bronze infantryman in high relief. On the R side are bronze plaques in a classical wooden frame, recording legacies to the hospital over the period 1924-46. In the R side wall is a foundation tablet laid by Mrs Lloyd-George, wife of the prime minister, in 1920. Double half-glazed panel doors lead to an axial corridor, opposite which is an open-well stair with moulded newels and turned balusters. Other parts of the hospital have been modernised.

Reason for designation

Listed for its special architectural interest as a well-preserved cottage hospital in late Arts-and-Crafts style, making use of traditional Welsh building materials of roughcast and slate.