Abertawe House, including back cottage

Cadw's description

Location

Towards the west end of the street, on its southern side, immediately west of Westgate.

History

A substantial urban villa, thought to have been built in 1892, though perhaps replacing an earlier house on the site (the back cottage is likely to pre-date the main house).

Exterior

Main house fronts the street, and at the rear, is linked by a length of rubble wall with quartizte copings to a smaller back cottage or service building facing the main house across a yard. Villa in a mildly gothic style, 2 storeyed with attics, and 3-bays. Scribed render with rusticated quoins to main elevation, rubble exposed in rear wall and gable ends. Slate roof with cresting and finials, yellow brick gable end stacks. Main elevation has narrow central bay with doorway in architrave with decorative panels (apparently incorporating coal or coke), and is flanked by full-height canted bays with 4-pane sash windows beneath broad dormer gables. Central window over doorway is also a 4-pane sash, and has similar decorated architrave, as do the tall attic windows. Wide gables have decorated barge-boards. Cast iron rainwater goods with embossed mask detail.

2-storeyed cottage to rear is of rubble with brick heads and quoins to 4-pane sash windows; slate roof with brick stack to left-hand gable. Rear elevation has mainly 4-pane sashes including stair window at centre.

Reason for designation

Listed as an especially good example of the late C19 villa, characteristic of Newport, as of other west Wales port towns. Abertawe House retains its original character virtually intact, and thus nicely illustrates the rich decorative vocabulary employed in houses of this status.