14 Ffrydan Road

A three-storey terrace of nine late Victorian townhouses built probably in two phases around 1890 as a speculative development. The terrace does not appear in the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1888, but is present on the second edition of 1901 (surveyed 1899). It 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 in construction—engineering and stock bricks—were clearly brought in by rail. This terrace illustrates the shift in the second half of the 19th century from an indigenous vernacular building tradition dependent almost exclusively on local materials to a more homogenised, geographically non-specific speculative architecture of standardised materials and design.

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

The terrace is visually divided into two distinct stylistic parts. 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. This section comprises two reflected pairs of units with an additional unit (no. 12) at the right end. Each unit is of two bays with its entrance paired with its neighbour (except the end one) and has a full-height canted bay window with simple decorative applied timber framing. The gables are shallow with cusped bargeboards and decorative wooden finials. Windows are plain Victorian cross-windows, with modern replacements to no. 12. Nos. 4 and 6 have narrow round-arched entrances with 4-panel doors and plain overlights, with decorative arched niches above to blind first-floor windows. The remaining entrances are broader with segmental heads, 4-panel doors, narrow flanking glazed panels and plain overlights.

The right-hand part (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 except no. 18 (centre right) have narrow segmentally-arched openings with 4-panel doors and plain overlights. No. 18 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 have been renewed, apparently in lead. Windows throughout are plain Victorian 4-pane sashes.

The interior was not inspected at the time of survey.