No 2 Llannerch Hall

No. 2 Llannerch Hall (Nos. 1-13 Llannerch Hall)

A large country house of irregular plan, mainly three storeys plus basement, constructed of stuccoed limestone and red brick on a chamfered plinth with fine sandstone dressings. The roof is shallow-pitched and hipped, covered in slate with lead flashings. Tall 19th-century brown brick chimneys with oversailing courses and dentilated tops punctuate the roofline.

The main southeast front presents a symmetrical 3-bay primary section. The central entrance bay is recessed and has flanking full-height square projecting bays. A single-storey classical entrance section, advanced and near-flush with the flanking bays, features a decorative balustrade to its flat roof. The entrance itself is a central Tuscan portico with a moulded, round-arched opening and projecting key and imposts. Flanking columns and pilasters lead to six moulded steps and a 4-panel double door with glazed upper sections and facetted lower panels. A moulded entablature and cornice return onto narrow flanking sections. These sections contain plain 19th-century sashes with projecting stone sills. Tripartite sash windows light the flanking bays on the ground and first floors; those on the first floor have consoles and pediments, while those on the ground floor have moulded labels. Plain sill-corbelling runs throughout. Four-pane French windows to the first-floor central section have simply-moulded entablatures; similar second-floor windows have volutes to the sides. A fine moulded and dentilated cornice dating from the 1770s crowns the composition, with two contemporary lead downpipes featuring simple decorative hoppers to the inner returns of the projecting bays.

The northeast garden side displays plain, unhorned sashes with architraves as before and a continuous cornice. The main section extends four bays deep, with the return walls of the frontal bays and a similar single-bay section to the right respectively recessed and advanced on either side of a two-bay main section. Basement access features plain railings, a segmentally-arched entrance and window to the right, and a part-glazed door. Adjacent to the right and advanced again is a two-storey L-shaped addition with matching cornice. A plain tripartite window lights the main ground-floor section, and paired sashes serve a recessed single-bay section to the right.

The rear elevation reveals random limestone rubble walling to the main block, indicating a Jacobean origin. The cornice and 18th-century windows as before remain visible. To the right stands a tall four-storey plus basement wing of red brick, an 18th-century addition; the upper storey is modern with a flat felted roof. Twelve-pane windows near-flush to the first and second floors feature fine brick voussoirs. Blocked windows to the left (northeast) are evident. A small light well separates this projection from the rear of the main block, with 19th-century and modern single-storey additions fronting it.

Adjoining flush to the main block on the southwest side is a two-storey, three-bay 18th-century range, stuccoed and roofed as before with a dentilated and moulded cornice. The roof has a parapet with a 19th-century pyramidally-roofed wooden bellcote and tin louvre; two staged 19th-century brick chimneys rise from it. Segmentally-arched windows to both floors face the front, featuring plain projecting sandstone architraves with sills, heads and centres quoined; projecting keystones emphasise the openings. A single-storey mid-19th-century addition steps down and adjoins to the left, constructed of uncoursed limestone ashlar with a roof hipped to the left. A moulded cornice and plain stringcourse above a window copied from the 1770s work remain, though the window has been lowered and now serves as a modern glazed entrance with a further modern window to the left. Four nine-pane sashes (modern replacements of 19th-century originals) to the southwest end have projecting sandstone lacing, and a two-stage brick and sandstone chimney stands nearby. The long southwest side of this range spans five bays with windows as before to the first three. The two right-hand bays accommodate a storeyed modern addition; a similar flat-roofed brick addition occupies the ground floor of the left bay, together with a basement addition to the right.

Adjoining this 18th-century range to the rear (northwest) is an early 19th-century two-storey red brick addition with a wide canted, storeyed bay to the southwest. This features a hipped slate roof with a lead ball finial and dentilated eaves, and twelve-pane modern tilting sashes to original first-floor openings with projecting sills; modern windows and a door serve the ground floor. An early 20th-century hipped-roofed red brick garage addition adjoins flush to the left. A continuous mid-19th-century open slated pentice fronts this section, forming a single-storey covered way supported on cast iron columns set on low brick walls with sandstone copings. This continues to the left to include a segmental carriage arch providing access to the rear.

The entrance hall features an 18th-century (or possibly later) decorative floor of conjoined limestone flags with inset black marble squares. A dentilated plaster cornice crowns a compartmented ceiling decorated with a classical frieze of triglyphs and rosettes; a vertically-panelled dado runs around the walls. A 19th-century tripartite wooden vestibule screen has tall four-panel double doors with leaded upper panels and flanking classical pilasters; heavily-moulded cornices and facetted decoration ornament the plinths. A full-height cantilevered stone corkscrew service stair from the 18th century features panelled doors throughout the entry sequence and window reveals.

At the end of the entrance hall, a fine 1770s staircase sequence ascends from ground to second floor. The first section, from ground to first floor, was originally a narrow well stair with quarterpaces and a first-floor galleried landing; the well was infilled in the 19th century to form a service passage. The second stage, from first to second storey, is a large sweeping well stair with corkscrew flight. Oak treads and risers have scrolled and moulded tread-ends and fine octagonal oak balusters with stopped-chamfered decoration. Elegant swept, moulded mahogany handrails end in spiral twists with columnar balusters. Large stair windows serve each floor, incorporating heraldic stained glass dated 1867 on the ground and first floors. Windows on the ground and second floors contain fine 17th-century enamelled quarries and some 18th-century enamelled heraldic panels. Simple Adamesque plasterwork decorates the ceiling of the former dining room, which features a contemporary marble fireplace set to a bowed side wall.