Bristol Channel Yacht Club

Cadw's description

Location

Approximately 800m SE of Oystermouth church, the most southerly building facing the front in Southend.

History

Built in 1904 for £4000 by Glendinning Moxham as the club house of the Bristol Channel Yacht Club, founded in 1875.

Exterior

A two-and-a-half-storey club house using a variety of materials and influenced by Norman Shaw's Old English style. The lower storey is pebble dashed and has brick dressings to the openings; the upper storey is tile hung, the gables are timber-framed and the roofs are tiled. To the asymmetrical front there is a canted bay set back from the L angle which is carried up above the eaves to form a short snuffer-topped turret. To the R is a wide full-height splayed bay under a hipped roof. The main roof is hipped to the R and gabled to the L with the eaves projecting on brackets. There are brick end stacks and a ridge stack to the L of centre. The wooden-framed windows have mullions and transoms incorporating casements, and with small panes above the transoms and large panes below.
In the front elevation the bay to the R has French doors flanked by cross windows in the lower storey, all under stone lintels. In the centre is the main round-headed doorway, with a stone surround, stressed key and hood mould, with double boarded doors. To its L is segmental headed 3-light window. Above is a balcony with a roof carried on 4 wooden posts with 4-centred arches. The balustrade has shaped balusters. The balcony is reached by French doors to the R with flanking windows, and narrower French doors on the L side. Above is a 4-light gabled roof dormer. The bay to the L has mullioned and transomed windows in each storey, above which is timber framing and brackets supporting the swept eaves of the turret. This has a weathervane at the apex.
The R side wall has a first-floor oriel window cut down to make a fire escape door. The L gable end has 1-light windows to the centre, cross windows to their L under segmental heads and in the lower storey a small sash window further L. Behind on the L side is a lower 2-storey wing (the caretaker's house) with mullioned sash windows and a half-lit door in a lean-to porch. The rear wall is dominated by a 4-light window L of centre lighting the stair.

Interior

An entrance lobby has half-lit doors with the club insignia etched into the glass. The central entrance hall has a panelled plaster ceiling. Panelled doors have plain pilasters and panelling above the lintels. On the L side is a small fireplace with green relief-moulded decorative tiles. The staircase has shaped balusters and newels up to a landing with a similar balustrade. The landing is lit by a 4-light window in the rear wall with stained glass recording the establishment of the club in 1875 and the erection of the club house in 1904. In the lower storey, the room to the L is the dining room and has plain plaster panels to the ceiling. The reading room is to the R and has a plaster panelled ceiling with curved intersecting ribs. A wood-framed fireplace has a projecting mantelpiece with plain moulded pilasters and consoles with lion's heads beneath a cornice. At the rear end is a panelled bar front and seats to the R and L with high shaped ends.
On the upper L side is the 'Fairwood Suite', which has a plainer wooden fireplace surround with fluted pilasters. The Billiard Room upper R has window seats, a fireplace with plain jambs enriched with Art-Nouveau style low-relief foliage and 3 round-backed niches to the mantelpiece.

Reason for designation

Listed for its architectural interest as a well-detailed and distinctive building retaining original character, and for its association with the development of Mumbles as a seaside resort during the late Victorian and Edwardian period.