Glasfryn

Glasfryn, Nos 1-4 Station Road

A three-storey terrace of four late Victorian townhouses, probably built around 1885 as a speculative development. The building exemplifies the prosperity and optimism brought to Bala by the arrival of the railway in the third quarter of the 19th century. The red brick and terracotta materials were clearly imported by rail, marking a significant shift from indigenous vernacular building traditions dependent on local materials to more homogenised, geographically non-specific speculative architecture using standardised materials and design.

The terrace is constructed of red brick with terracotta dressings to the eaves, labels and sills. It has a slate roof with a tiled ridge and two 2-stage chimneys with pots. The building is composed 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 (nos 1 and 2) features 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 is similar but now has a glazed modern door. Both have paired sash windows to the left and right with 6-pane upper and plain lower sections, moulded sills and returned labels. The first floors above the entrances have plain 2-pane sashes, with smaller 4-pane sashes to the second floor above featuring segmental heads. The centre bays contain large rectangular wooden oriels with supporting decorative brackets and dentilated cornices, topped with 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 (nos 3 and 4) have similar upper floors but lack the central oriels; instead, they have 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 triple sashes advanced as a shallow bay with leaded roofs.

Low brick forecourt walls with moulded capping and decorative railings surround the property. The interior was not inspected at the time of survey.