37 Mount Street

36 & 37 Mount Street, Welshpool

History: Now a single house, but until recently a pair of cottages, the property originally formed part of a larger dwelling with No 38. It comprised a hall and cross-wing type house with baffle entry against axial stack, and Nos 36-37 represent the hall or kitchen range of this late C16 building. Their internal layout has been much altered in subsequent generations.

Exterior: The original house was timber framed, but this range was refronted in brick and then rendered; steep slate roof, with massive brick axial stack. 2 storeyed, 3-window range, with left hand bay (formerly no 36) set back slightly. 2-light casement window with cambered brick head, and similar window below the eaves. Similar window in advanced right hand bay, with doorway and a further casement window (renewed) under a common lintel. Blocked opening to the left. Upper windows are 2-light casements, immediately under the eaves.

Interior: Entrance opens onto lobby in front of stack (which is shared with No 38); timber framed partition separating lobby from principle room incorporates a fine moulded timber panel. Plain bressumer of blocked fireplace is exposed. The main room has been opened out to incorporate the front room of the former No 36: previously this had comprised a narrow double pile cottage and may have represented the service rooms at the lower end of the original hall.

Together with No 38, the house represents an excellent example of a C17 timber-framed vernacular house of a type more often associated with rural locations; the pattern of alteration, with the successive subdivision (and then amalgamation) of the property is of interest in reflecting changing demands within an urban context.