Dol-Llys Hall

Dol-Llys Hall is a picturesque Gothic country house, built in the style of John Nash, likely during the late 18th century. It is roughly arranged in a T-shape. The external walls are rendered, with a hipped slate roof, wide boarded eaves, and slate chimney stacks. The main facade faces the garden (east) and has six plus one windows, notable for the deep semicircular bowed projection to the left-of-centre and the rounded left-hand end. The right-hand bay is stepped back, appearing as a later addition. A full-width lean-to verandah, supported by quatrefoil cast-iron piers with annulettes and a tiled pavement, extends on either side of the three-window bow. The windows are acutely pointed casements, predominantly two-light, except for the ground-floor window in the bow, which is four-light. The window glazing has been altered, though some retain intersecting bars to the window heads; the first-floor windows in the bow are small-paned. The verandah returns around the left-hand end, featuring a small-paned tripartite sash window in an elliptically headed opening with Gothic detailing. A stepped projection leads to the cross range, and the relatively plain entrance is positioned at the first angle, sheltered by a splayed porch with panelled double doors and a Gothic fanlight. The verandah stops just beyond the second angle, followed by a four-window cross range with similar detailing.

The rear elevation is rendered with three windows and a reventment wall. On the north side, a U-shaped courtyard is enclosed by a long wall with two plus three windows; these are mainly casement windows similar to those on the front, with one small-paned, pointed sash window. Some windows are square-headed, although the openings remain pointed. Lean-to additions are present on projecting blocks, with the left-hand lean-to apparently extended (evidenced by the eaves).

The interior of the house retains fine and unusual Gothic detailing. The narrow entrance hall features six-panel Gothic doors and matching reveals, with broken pedimented doorcases. A cantilevered staircase curves in a single flight, featuring a panelled underside and a wrought iron balustrade composed of ogee arches and concave-sided diamonds, alongside a fluted newel post and carved tread ends. The balustrade continues along the first-floor landing. The small metal fittings along the staircase originally held halberds for civic occasions. The ceiling above is a ribbed plaster vault, with more elaborately ornamented panels to the ends and figurehead springers. A canted doorway leads into the drawing room (men’s lounge), featuring an acanthus cornice with Gothic touches. The garden front bow illuminates another public room (now the ladies’ lounge), which has a deep entablature with Adamesque ornament and intersecting tracery in the cornice. A fluted chimneypiece is embellished with carved figures and later tilework. The L-shaped dining room boasts a 17th-century style panelled ceiling with pendants and a deep cornice at three-quarters height, previously decorated with carved fruit and flowers. Fluted Ionic pilasters divide off the top section of the 'L', which contains an Arts and Crafts inglenook, fully panelled with a bracketed plate rack above a carved chimneypiece. One upstairs room has an unusual chimneypiece featuring detached fluted columns, swags, and winged lions. Victorian backstairs are also present.