Gwydyr House (former RS & P Garden Machinery Specialists)

This is a substantial, H-shaped, two-storey and attic building, originally constructed in the late 17th or early 18th century and later altered. The exterior is primarily red brick with a tiled roof and a brick chimney set to the right. A sandstone plinth supports the brickwork, and dressed stone copings and kneelers top the gables. The original brickwork exhibits an irregular bond, highlighted by horizontal bands of three courses over the ground and first floors. A moulded brick cornice has been retained in the centre of the building.

Projecting gables are positioned on either side of a recessed central bay, which has been infilled on the ground floor with a porch. The left gable has two windows, while the right has one. All windows are flush-set with various horned sash glazing patterns; the attic window on the left has six panes, the right has nine, the central windows, and the outer first-floor windows have twelve panes. Upper sashes include a tripartite window on the right. A window is blocked on the inner side of the right-hand gable, but there is no corresponding opening on the left.

Late 19th or early 20th-century shopfronts with dentilled cornices are applied to the squared bays on the ground floor, and are fully small-paned on the right. A central porch, added later, displays a free-Classical style, consistent with the building’s early origins. Ionic brick pilasters and fluted stone columns, all on high bases, support a stone entablature and cornice, which incorporate pulvinated details and a stylised acanthus keystone, with volute brackets at each end. The round-arched entrance is flanked by arched leaded lights with brick voussoirs, and features a fanlight and a modern door. A lean-to addition on the left incorporates a coloured-glass window.

The left-hand side has a cement rendering, concealing a moulded brick cornice similar to that on the front, along with a cut-down chimney stack and a two-light window. The originally three-window right-hand side has blocked, camber-headed openings, except for one twin-transom window on the ground floor, displaying similar brickwork detailing.

At the rear, the corner (eastern) cross wing projects further, maintaining the same two- and one-window arrangement. The left-hand gable has a timber hoist above a large blocked opening to the first floor and a doorway within a tripartite frame below. Fine cross-frame, leaded, and square-headed windows are centrally located; a small attic window is cut into the cornice, and a hipped lean-to is situated below. The right-hand gable has a camber-headed sash window in the attic above two multipane square-headed first-floor sashes, with an inserted doorway below.

The building was disused at the time of inspection. The interior is said to retain original features including oak stairs and roof trusses.