Dolforwyn Hall Hotel

Dolforwyn Hall Hotel

The main part of this house dates from around 1830 and is built in picturesque Gothick style. It is a two-storey, three-bay symmetrical front with gables flanking an embattled advanced central bay. The front is rendered with stressed quoins and plinth, covered by slate roofs with fretted barge boards to the gables and wide boarded eaves. Two brick chimneys stand towards the rear.

The entrance is contained within an embattled porch supported by narrow columns of quatrefoil section. The entrance itself is under a segmental arch, with glazed sides containing small panes under round heads. The doors are half-lit double doors with round heads and Gothick tracery. Above the porch is a 16-pane sash window with a triple keyed wedge lintel. The flanking gables each have full-length 24-pane sash windows with interlaced tracery in pointed arched heads at ground floor level, with similar 16-pane sash windows above, all fitted with hoodmoulds. The two-window return elevations feature full-length ground-floor windows.

On the south side, sash windows stand under triple keyed wedge lintels, one of which has been extended to form a door. The north side has two upper storey sashes and one below, all with triple keystones. To their west is a recessed area containing a plain 18-pane sash at first floor and a lean-to porch below with half-lit double doors featuring Gothick tracery and recessed panels. Extending northwards from the north-west angle of the house is a battlemented wall, which incorporates a doorway to the service areas behind. This doorway has a plain planked door under a pointed arched head with a blind traceried tympanum.

Behind the main house is an earlier timber-framed range. The north gable is visible and is square-panelled with brick nogging, indicating that the roof was raised to form a second storey. Fretted barge boards and a pendant have been added, with a 20th-century casement window at first floor level. Parallel and to the rear is a three-storey brick range with a full-height wing to the south-east, obscuring the south gable of the earlier building. This range is rendered to the south, with slate roof and two end stacks and one ridge stack. Three-light wooden casement windows appear on each storey of the east side and wing with segmental arched heads, except to the top storey. To the rear, window arrangements have changed over time. There is a large infilled archway at ground level, and the south part has a timber bressumer at first floor with three sash windows below. Most windows are under segmental brick heads; one cast iron window with quadrant stays survives, though most are 20th-century replacements. To the west of the house stands a high rubble retaining wall with recessed arched openings, with steep ground rising behind.

Interior

The original layout of the main block comprised two main rooms with a central hallway, now opened out through removal of partition walls. A corridor extends to the rear of the main block, with a staircase at its north end.

Consistent and high-quality detailing throughout includes ornate moulded plasterwork with cornices featuring friezes and square foliate bosses, foliate ceiling roses, hanging rails and dado rails. Woodwork comprises six-panelled doors, fluted door frames with foliate bosses, and panelled shutters. A fine oak staircase features thin balusters and a moulded hand rail.

Open timber framing is visible in the rear ranges, some of which is not in its original position. Wood-planked doors survive. The rear ranges also include moulded oak fireplaces with keystones and moulded oak sills, probably added during the 1830 remodelling.