Rosewarne House

Rosewarne House, now known as Gladys Holman House, is a large house dating to circa 1815, originally built for the Harris family who were involved in copper mining and smelting. It was restored in 1911 by H.M. Holman. The house is constructed of granite ashlar with a slate roof and is arranged as an H-plan, comprising a main range with shorter projecting wings and a longer recessed wing. It is designed in a Greek Revival style.

The front elevation displays a symmetrical arrangement of 1:3:1 bays, with the outer bays slightly projected and topped with pediments. A plinth rises to a first-floor band, and the house is finished with a moulded cornice and coped blocking course, with banded clasping pilasters to the corners. The central three-bay span has a flight of six steps leading to a porch formed as a tetrastyle Doric colonnade in antis, with a fluted frieze and cornice. The roof of this porch acts as a balcony, protected by an elegant wrought-iron balustrade featuring intersecting circles and Greek-key detailing. A segmental-headed doorway, featuring panelled double doors and a traceried overlight, is flanked by tall 15-pane sash windows. Above the porch are three windows, one a glazed door and the others 12-pane sashes. All openings have plain reveals. The wings have tall 15-pane sash windows in shallow round-headed recesses on the ground floor, with 12-pane sashes above. The corners of the pediments are decorated with angled anthemions. Ridge chimneys are present on the wings. A two-storey bow with tall 18-pane sash windows is featured on the left return wall. The right-hand return wall, of 1:5:1 bays, has raised quoins (without a band), windows with raised keystones – with the ground floor centre windows altered to French windows and the 4th and 5th windows altered, the others being sashed with glazing bars. It has a plain frieze, moulded cornice, and a parapet with anthemion upstands.

A large, nine-bay, single-storey conservatory is located to the rear of this wing, featuring flat-faced piers, full-height 21-pane sash windows, a plain frieze, moulded cornice, and a low parapet with anthemion upstands. A wide lantern is positioned at the apex of its shallow conical roof.

The interior features a cubic entrance hall with front and rear screens of polished red granite Corinthian columns, distyle in antis, with moulded plaster capitals and an elaborate entablature and cornice. A marble floor displays geometrical patterns, and a granite fireplace has fluted Doric semicolumns. A fine geometrical staircase with delicate scrolled wrought-iron balusters is also present. Panelled doors feature Greek key decoration. A small music room, located between the principal rooms in the south wing, has a fan-shaped acoustic ceiling.