Bryn Eisteddfod, incorporating Bryn Menai

Cadw's description

Location

Set back from the road near the N end of Newborough Street.

History

Built in the period 1834-52 and first shown on the 1852 town plan.

Exterior

Regency style house, 2 storeys with attic, symmetrical 3-window range; scribed render front, open arcaded barge boards with pendant finials to a slate roof, hipped to the rear, with added skylights, and stacks to the R and L. The narrow recessed central bay has a replaced door under an added glazed canopy, above which are French doors with overlights to a bracketed cast iron balcony. The outer bays are wider and gabled. They have small-pane tripartite sash windows in the lower storey, 2-light small-pane casements under overlights in the upper storey and round-headed 2-light casements to the attic. Set back on the L side is a 2-storey 2-window extension (known as Bryn Menai) under a hipped roof of replaced slates with roughcast stack to the L. The front has a doorway to the R with a replaced door and overlight. It has a 15-pane hornless sash window to the L and 12-pane hornless sashes in the upper storey. A doorway is set back on the R side of the main house in an added wall.

The R side and rear are pebble-dashed. The rear is 3-bay with a central advanced gabled bay. This has a replaced door and stair light above. In the R-hand bay is a tripartite sash window in the lower storey similar to the front, while the L-hand bay has an enlarged window. In the upper storey are renewed 4-pane sash windows R and L. The rear of Bryn Menai has a 4-pane sash window above a single-storey projection, and has an inserted small casement upper L.

Interior

The house is symmetrically planned with a central vestibule, which has an arch with panelled responds leading to the stair hall. The full-height open-well stair has a wreathed hand rail, plain balusters and moulded tread ends. The rooms to the L and R have classical chimneypieces, in the room to the L incorporating fluted pilasters and Greek key frieze, and classical plaster ceiling cornices. Windows have panelled shutters. The ground floor retains panelled doors, the basement boarded doors.

Reason for designation

Listed as an early C19 house retaining early character, and for its contribution to Wellington Terrace, a fine suburban development representing the rising prosperity of Caernarfon consequent upon the growth of its port.