59 High Street

Cadw's description

Location

On south side of High Street in a terrace running southeast from the junction with Ffordd Cwmbowydd.

History

Built circa 1860 as one of a terrace of ten houses originally named Diffwys Terrace, owned by Diffwys Casson Quarry to the northeast (see Scheduled Monument CN413) and occupied by its workers. Local tradition says the terrace was also known as Bootle Alley having been built by builders from Bootle, Merseyside. The terrace was sold off by Diffwys Casson during its financial troubles around 1879. One of very few Ffestiniog houses to not participate in any of the local government window and roof replacement schemes of the late twentieth and early twenty first centuries, the owner since the 1970s has been at pains to conserve and restore its original character. Ty Bach in rear garden demolished 2011.

Exterior

Mid-terrace double fronted two storey house facing High Street with sloping rear garden about a floor’s height below reached by exterior stair. The terrace is banked up on tall foundations with no basements. Irregular large rubble construction with imitation sandstone door and window frames with Ffestiniog slate roof.

Pitched roof with slightly projecting eaves to front and back. Rendered chimney stacks shared with nos. 58 and 60 are the only ones in rubble stone remaining on the terrace, with original chimney pots.

Original timber front door with Suffolk latch (moved from an internal door), horizontal overlight replaced in art nouveau patterned glass, imitation sandstone door frame with slightly chamfered vertical edges. Recessed hornless sash windows with slate sills to front are original except for ground floor right to parlour. 12 panes to either side of front door with 9 panes directly above.

Rear is more heavily pointed in lime mortar as it faces the prevailing weather conditions. Original exterior staircase to rear with slate treads descends from rear garden door on left down to the right, with a ninety-degree turn added at the bottom. Bracketed handrail made from re-used iron pipe. Substantial blind area above staircase up to rear bedroom window. Slate rail at top of stair has graffiti ‘TH 1898’ with picture of a pick and rope. Rear garden door is modern but in character with 12 panes. Rear windows with slate sills are replacements in original openings, 12 pane hornless sash to left of garden door, 2 panel casement split vertically directly above garden door and 2 panel casement to right of this, upper floor windows flush with eaves.

Interior

Well restored interior with lobby entrance onto central corridor with small front parlour and rear kitchen with garden door to left and lounge with corner stair. On first floor right bathroom at rear and small front bedroom to front, to left large front bedroom and rear bedroom. Vertical timber partitions throughout.

Slate flag floor and exposed timber ceiling beams throughout ground floor. Lath and plaster ceiling to kitchen and hall, replaced with plaster board in lounge. Inner front door has overlight in art nouveau patterned glass, leads onto corridor with under stair cupboard against rear wall. Parlour fireplace lost before 1970s. Substantial inner slate sill to kitchen rear window. Recreated lounge fireplace in slate and cast iron with decorative ceramic tiles and timber surround. An original slate lintel is reportedly contained within the wall but is broken. Shelf with curved ends over fireplace. Original timber corner staircase begins against rear wall of lounge and turns ninety degrees to align with central corridor. Steps over boarded, with two curving wall stringers and tall square and vasiform post, curved rail and thin squared balusters.

New timber partitions on upper floor installed in same positions as lost originals. Partition wall to bathroom is angled to meet the left rear window in between its two panels, so that it lights the staircase and the bathroom. Exposed timber roof trusses in both left side bedrooms. Small front bedroom to front right has a corner inset by stair landing. Original iron and stone fireplace in large front bedroom on left with slate rear panel and added late-Victorian ceramic tiles. Large slate sill in rear bedroom window was salvaged from ruins of a former quarry pay office during the 1970s and is inscribed with graffiti, including ‘WR 1900’, ‘JW 1929’ and a detailed image of a packet of Gold Flake cigarettes signed ‘RJ Roberts, August 1927’.

Reason for designation

Listed for special historic and architectural interest as a well-preserved industrial terraced house associated with the development of the slate industry in Blaenau Ffestiniog, retaining a level of architectural detail now very rare in the world heritage landscape. The other houses in the terrace are not of special interest.