Bronallt

Bronallt, Nos 1-4 Station Road

A three-storey terrace of four late Victorian townhouses, probably built around 1885 as a speculative development. The terrace was erected following the arrival of the railway in the third quarter of the 19th century, which brought new prosperity to Bala and other rural market towns. The red brick and terracotta materials were clearly brought in by rail, exemplifying the shift in the second half of the 19th century from indigenous vernacular building traditions dependent on local materials to more homogenised, geographically non-specific speculative architecture employing standardised materials and design.

The building is constructed of red brick with terracotta dressings to the eaves, labels and sills. It has a slate roof with tiled ridge and two two-stage chimneys, both with pots. The terrace is arranged in two parts, with numbers 3 and 4 stepped down slightly from numbers 1 and 2. Each half consists of a reflected pair of houses with minor differences between them.

The right-hand pair, numbers 1 and 2, feature outer entrance bays with wide segmentally-arched doorways. Number 2 retains its original 6-panel door with narrow flanking lights and plain overlight; number 1 has similar detailing but with a glazed modern door. Paired sash windows flank the entrances, with 6-pane upper and plain lower sections, moulded sills and returned labels. Plain 2-pane sashes light the first floors above the entrances, with smaller 4-pane sashes to the second floor above these, which have segmental heads. The centre bays contain large rectangular wooden oriels with supporting decorative brackets and dentilated cornices and leaded roofs. Each oriel retains plain tripartite glazing with a central arched window and flanking transomed lights. The second floor features large arched sash windows set within large gabled dormers with decorative bargeboards and terracotta ridge finials.

The left-hand pair, numbers 3 and 4, have similar upper floors but without the central oriels; instead, there are three plain sashes with a shared label. The entrances are narrower with flat arches, 6-panel doors and plain overlights. The ground floor windows are similarly triple sashes, advanced as a shallow bay with leaded roofs.

Low brick forecourt walls with moulded capping and surmounting decorative railings complete the setting.

The interior was not inspected at the time of survey.