Dol y Coed

Dol y Coed

A rambling country house facing south, consisting of three main blocks with a further eastern block and lower service ranges to the rear. The elevations are cement rendered under slate roofs with boarded eaves and cement rendered chimney stacks.

The oldest part occupies the centre, presenting a three-window front of two storeys with an attic. Flat-roofed dormers contain three-light multi-pane casement windows. The first floor has horizontally hung twelve-pane windows (replacements for original sashes), while the ground floor has similar tripartite windows flanking a broad flat-roofed half-glazed porch at the central entrance. The panelled half-glazed front door features stained glass.

To the left of the central block is a taller two-storey range with an attic, its three-window front representing a late 19th-century remodelling of an early 19th-century range. To the right stands a two-storey flat-roofed bay, fully glazed to the upper storey and with a tripartite window below set in a moulded architrave. At first floor level to the left and centre are two-light casement windows with segmental heads, with similar but shorter windows to the ground floor between which a panelled door opens. Two gabled dormers to the attic carry cusped bargeboards and two-light casement windows. The west gable end displays similar casements with segmental heads at first floor and attic levels, with a flat-roofed bay against the ground floor incorporating a glazed porch. A long single-storey range extends to the left, containing four small windows.

To the right of the central block rises a tall two-window range of three storeys with an attic and moulded end stacks. High-set raked attic dormers and six-pane windows to the second storey are accompanied by horizontally hung multi-pane windows below. North of the east gable end is a one-window bay with similar detailing and a late 20th-century half-glazed door at ground floor level, all openings set within moulded architraves. This connects with a three-window three-storey east front that subsequently became the main entrance. Slightly advanced with corner quoins, sill bands, and moulded architraves to the horizontally hung windows with marginal glazing, it terminates at the north end with a corbelled stack. A central Doric porch with a late 20th-century glazed door is flanked by a canted bay window to the right and a late 20th-century wide glazed bay to the left. The north end of this block contains a single-storey range known as the ballroom, with a hipped roof featuring a full-length ventilator and a broad canted bay to the east with cross-frame glazing. A low planked door with a segmental head opens to the left. An enclosed courtyard occupies the rear, with a two-storey three-window block towards its centre. Other rear ranges are mainly single-storey with hipped slate roofs. Some original sashes are retained elsewhere; most windows are replacements.

The central entrance leads into a hall with panelled dado and a staircase to the rear. The inner hall to the right is the most architecturally distinguished interior space, featuring moulded four-centred arches to doorways (one blocked) and fireplace, all springing from clustered piers. A small fireplace within an arch has a classical-style surround with a flat head, and a deeply moulded ceiling cornice enriches the space.

The remainder of the interior was not accessible for survey. The staircase is believed to have been altered historically, with its lower flight turned to rise from the rear; the lower balustrade is replaced, though the handrail and string may be original. The confined first floor landing is said to retain arched openings with keystones—segmental to the right and semicircular to the left—while the stairs continue to the attic with original balustrade. The earliest part of the present building employs a three-bay roof structure and was originally hipped. The ballroom to the northeast, probably built as a billiard room, is said to retain a coved ceiling with rose and wall recesses. The interior underwent modernisation during conversion from hotel use to offices.