Detached service wing on N side of Doldowlod House

Cadw's description

Location

On the N side of the house.

History

Doldowlod was purchased by the engineer James Watt of Soho, Birmingham, in 1803. The present house, originally attached to an older farmhouse shown on the 1840 Tithe map, was built by his son James Watt junior (1769-1848) in 1843-5, modelled loosely on his Birmingham residence, Aston Hall. The architect was Robert Mylne. This relatively modest house comprised an entrance hall, dining room, drawing room and library, with service rooms contained within the attached farmhouse. The old house was demolished and an extension was built by James Watt Gibson-Watt (1831-91), who inherited Doldowlod in 1874. The extension is said also to be by Robert Mylne (although the Rhayader architect Stephen Williams is a possible alternative). It included the service wing, which became detached from the main house when other service rooms were taken down in the late 1940s.

Exterior

A 2-storey service wing of coursed rubble stone with tooled dressings, and slate roof with stone stack to the L. It has pilaster strips to the angles, of which the L-hand is tooled stone and the R-hand repaired in roughcast. The entrance is on the R side and has a Gothic panelled door under a round-headed overlight. To its L is a 3-light wooden mullioned and transomed window. The upper storey has three 2-light small-pane casement windows beneath the eaves. Against L gable end is a single-storey extension brought forward under a pent roof. Its entrance is within the splay to the R side where it is attached to the main range, and has a half-glazed door with overlight, and on its L side a square tooled stone pier. Similar piers are at the L end and lead to the rear of the building. Set back on the R side the building continues in brick, where it was originally attached to the main house. Its SE end wall, which faces the courtyard at the rear of the main house, is roughcast, has a half-glazed boarded door L, 2-light window to the R, and a 3-light small-pane window in the upper storey. The R angle has a full-height buttress.

Interior

Not inspected.

Reason for designation

Listed for its special architectural interest as a service building of definite C19 character and for group value with the main house.