Glanrhyd

Glanrhyd: Nos 4-20 Ffrydan Road (even)

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

The terrace is built 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 with pots; the chimney at the far left (no 6) is rendered.

The building divides 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 decorative banding. This section comprises two reflected pairs of units with an additional unit (no 12) at the right end. Each unit is two bays wide, with entrances paired with neighbours (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. Windows are plain Victorian cross-windows; modern replacements exist to no 12. Nos 4 and 6 have narrow round-arched entrances with 4-panel doors and plain overlights, with a decorative arched niche above at blind first-floor level. 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 units except no 18 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, though the roofs to nos 14 and 16 have been renewed (possibly in lead). Plain Victorian 4-pane sashes are used throughout.

The interior was not inspected at the time of survey.