10 Ffrydan Road

A three-storey terrace of 9 late Victorian townhouses forming part of the row 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 present on the second edition of 1901 (surveyed 1899).

The arrival of the railway to Bala in the third quarter of the 19th century brought new prosperity and optimism to the town and other rural market towns. The materials used in constructing this terrace—engineering and stock bricks—were clearly brought in by rail. The terrace illustrates 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 using standardised materials and designs.

The terrace 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 a tiled ridge and 5 chimneys all with pots; the chimney to the far left (no. 6) is rendered.

The facade is 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. The right-hand part (nos. 14-20) is of yellow stock brick with more simplified detailing in engineering brick.

The left half comprises two reflected pairs of units with an additional unit (no. 12) at the right end. Each unit is of 2 bays with its entrance paired with its neighbour (except the end unit), and features a full-height canted bay window with simple decorative applied timber framing, cusped bargeboards and decorative wooden finials to shallow gables. Plain Victorian cross-windows are present throughout, though those to no. 12 are modern replacements.

Nos. 4 and 6 on the left have narrow round-arched entrances with 4-panel doors and plain overlights, with a decorative arched niche above to a blind first floor. The remaining entrances are broader with segmental heads, featuring 4-panel doors with narrow flanking glazed panels and plain overlights.

The right-hand part of the terrace 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 2-storey canted bay with slated middle and roof, though the roofs to nos. 14 and 16 on the left have been renewed, possibly in lead. Plain Victorian 4-pane sashes are present throughout.

The interior was not inspected at the time of survey.