No 2 Park Houses

Nos. 1 and 2 Park Houses are a largely 17th and 18th century building situated within the gardens at Powis, and are of group value as an early estate building, modified and adapted for particular uses. The north elevation faces Dairy Square and is constructed of brick with a slate roof, incorporating some rubble in the basement storey. An early doorway is located on the left, approached by steps with a squared balustrade. It features paired six-panelled doors within a bolection moulded architrave, flanked by windows with steeply cambered brick heads. A later doorway has been inserted, cutting through the steeply arched head of an earlier window. Further windows on the ground floor are also insertions, although the remains of a series of steeply arched window heads are still visible. At first floor level, a series of blocked windows are evident, their steeply arched heads partially obscured by the current eaves line. The existing windows are secondary, using cast iron with small panes and central opening lights, potentially inserted during an extension to the left where the fenestration is of a similar type.

The south elevation, which faces the garden, is two storeys high with a full basement, partially constructed of rubble. The elevation is divided by a wall forming the east boundary of the formal garden. In the left-hand section, early fenestration is visible at basement level, mirroring the style of the blocked windows in the north elevation: a series of five steeply arched windows, with a further window adjacent to the wall to the right. An inserted doorway is located to the left, and paired secondary windows are found to the right. On the upper storeys, the fenestration is aligned, composed of five closely spaced windows to the left, all with plastered plain architraves. Of the more widely spaced windows to the right, one retains a steeply arched head, potentially indicating an early origin; the others have single ring cambered heads and are likely secondary. The majority of the windows are cast-iron with small panes and central opening vents, but one mullioned and transomed leaded light remains, possibly a survival from an earlier phase. The section to the right of the wall features windows with wood mullions and transoms, and larger panes of glass.

Internally, one room at first floor level within the earliest western range displays three bays of conventional early 19th century fire-proof construction, featuring brick arches between cast iron beams carried on cast iron columns.