Black Gates House

Black Gates House is a building that has been converted into offices. It is constructed from large dressed stone and features a Welsh blue-slate roof. The house likely dates from the late 18th century to early 19th century and has two storeys plus an attic. The facade is symmetrical with five bays and includes rusticated quoins, a ground-floor sill band, a first-floor band, and a cyma-moulded stone gutter. The doorway is framed by engaged Tuscan columns, an entablature, and triangular pediments, with a window above that has an architrave, pulvinated frieze, and cornice. Other windows are set in raised plain-stone surrounds, and the gables are coped with stacks. The rear of the building features an arched stair window, while the left-hand return has four ground-floor windows and two first-floor windows, along with a blocked Diocletian window in the attic.

Inside, the stair hall boasts an open-well cantilevered staircase with a wreathed and ramped handrail, risers treated as imposts, and a cast-iron balustrade with paired rods alternating with s-shaped balusters. The interior also includes a dentil cornice and an oval plaster ceiling adorned with medallion heads surrounded by swags. The space was formerly illuminated by a stained-glass window featuring a blue lady, which was being repaired in 1985. A room to the left contains a Neo-classical fireplace with a finely carved wooden surround.