Swanland House

Swanland House is a large house dating from 1862. It is constructed of yellow brick with ashlar sandstone dressings, and has a Welsh slate roof. The main front has a three-bay composition, with a one-and-a-half-bay return to each side, and a lower, three-by-two-bay service wing at the rear right. The recessed central entrance features Ionic columns and an archivolt with a large, carved keystone, along with carved spandrels and consoles supporting a bow-fronted cornice with a decorative iron balustrade. A plain sash window sits above, featuring moulded imposts and a segmental archivolt. The flanking bays project and are gabled, with wooden, single-storey canted bay windows that include plinth projections, plain sashes, carved friezes, and cornices resting on consoles. The upper floor has an iron balustrade in front of tripartite recessed windows, featuring plain sashes in pilastered surrounds with archivolts over round-headed sidelights and segmental centre lights, all with keystones. Gables have moulding within open pediments formed by wooden cornices on raking brackets, with an iron finial to the right. Decorative ridge cresting and two chimney stacks with plinths and broad cornices are present. The left return features a gabled bay that projects, with decorated segmental archivolts over the plain sashes to the ground floor (bay one with a shouldered architrave, bay two altered). Upper floor windows have a sill band on blocks and segmental archivolts (bay one with a carved keystone). The right return is similar to the left but reversed and less ornate. The entrance hall contains four-panel doors with raised mouldings, set within eared architraves on tall skirtings. A wooden, cantilevered staircase has cast-iron balustrade panels that coil beneath the handrail around a carved newel; it features a ceiling rose. The front-right room contains an enriched doorcase, a marble fireplace with a round arch, keystone, and dentil cornice, a bay window flanked by pilasters with floral drops, a deep frieze with acanthus swirls, a moulded cornice, and a ceiling rose. The front-left room has a white marble fireplace with fine carving and a bowed cornice, with a deep frieze in a Neo-Classical style; otherwise, it is similar to the right room. The landing has archivolt side openings, a panelled frieze and margin-glazed ceiling lights. The front rooms on the upper floor have painted marble fireplaces and colonettes to the window mullions. The house is considered an outstanding example of a typical design for its period, demonstrating group value.