18 Ffrydan Road

18 Ffrydan Road

This is part of a terrace of nine late Victorian townhouses, numbered 4–20 Ffrydan Road (even). The terrace was probably built in two phases around 1890 as a speculative development. It does not appear on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1888, but is shown on the second edition of 1901 (surveyed 1899). The construction of this terrace reflects the new prosperity and optimism brought to Bala and other rural market towns by the arrival of the railway in the third quarter of the 19th century. The materials used—chiefly engineering and stock bricks—were clearly transported by rail. The terrace exemplifies the shift in the second half of the 19th century away from indigenous vernacular building traditions dependent on local materials, towards a more homogenised and geographically non-specific speculative architecture using standardised materials and design.

The building is a three-storey terrace constructed of dark grey engineering brick and yellow stock brick, with yellow, grey and red brick detailing. It has a continuous slate roof with a tiled ridge and five chimneys with pots; the chimney to the far left (no. 6) is rendered.

The terrace is composed of two distinct stylistic halves. The left half (nos. 4–12) has a facade of engineering bricks with stock and red brick detailing to windows and in the form of decorative banding. It consists of two reflected pairs of units with an additional unit (no. 12) at the right end. Each unit has two bays. The entrance is paired with that of its neighbour (except at the end unit). All units have a full-height canted bay window with simple decorative applied timber framing, cusped bargeboards and decorative wooden finials to shallow gables. All windows are plain Victorian cross-windows; no. 12 has modern replacements. Numbers 4 and 6 have narrow round-arched entrances with 4-panel doors and plain overlights, with a decorative arched niche to the blind first floor above. The remaining entrances are broader with segmental heads, 4-panel doors with narrow flanking glazed panels and plain overlights.

The right-hand part of the terrace (nos. 14–20) is of yellow stock brick with more simplified detailing in engineering brick. It consists of two reflected pairs with paired central and outer entrances. All units except no. 18 have narrow segmentally-arched openings with 4-panel doors and plain overlights. No. 18, at centre right, has a broader segmentally-arched entrance with a tripartite door and glazed panel arrangement. Each unit has a two-storey canted bay with slated middle and roof; the roofs to nos. 14 and 16 (left) have been renewed, possibly in lead. Plain Victorian 4-pane sashes are used throughout.

The interior was not inspected at the time of survey.