Treforgan

Treforgan is an early 19th century country house built in the classical Regency style for Evan Davies (who died in 1832), designed in the manner of John Nash. The house is constructed of whitewashed rubble stone with a hipped slate roof and a prominent brick stack built in the 1930s. The main south and west facades are two-storey, three-window ranges, with a three-window service range to the east, and outbuildings attached to the northeast.

The south front features a raised plinth, a band, and brackets to the eaves. It has a circular rooflight, 12-pane sashes with cambered heads and stone voussoirs, and a recessed central section with a Roman Doric pair of timber columns with half-column responds and a mutule cornice, angled to direct rainwater. The recessed entrance has a fanlight above double panelled doors with sidelights, featuring reeded mouldings. The service range, set back to the right, has large brick stacks at each end, French windows above with iron flower balconies, and 12-pane sashes below, with a central blank space. The west front has a central 12-pane sash on each floor, a dummy ground floor window, and full-height bows with tripartite 1-12-4-pane sashes, flat-headed with slim dividing columns and half-column responds. Dummy sidelights are on the upper floor. The rear (north) side has a northwest angle pier but is largely plain with a four-window range of 12-pane sashes and blank windows. The rear of the service range incorporates an outshut with a three-window range of 12-pane sashes. Low, L-plan outbuildings are located to the northeast, featuring an eastern end stack. The east front has two doors: a barn entry and a tall door with an overlight leading into the stables; a return provides access to the tackroom via a window and door.

The building’s plan resembles Nash’s designs for Ffynnone, Llanaeron and Llysnewydd from 1792-4, but is less unified. The interior features a plaster-vaulted rectangular entry hall with a glazed arch into a square inner hall. This inner hall has recessed arches on each side, leading to a similar plaster-vaulted space to the north, providing access to the north and northwest rooms. The inner hall contains a quasi-dome with panelled spandrels curving into a flat circular ceiling decorated with fine plaster rosettes. An apsidal stair hall to the east contains a fine cantilever Bath stone staircase with plain iron balusters and a ramped rail. Plaster mouldings under the landing and to the first floor, with lozenge borders and rose patterns, are present. The rooms are accessed by six-panel doors in reeded surrounds, with panelled shutters. The southwest dining room features a large elliptical arched alcove to the north and an acanthus cornice. The northwest drawing room has a carved marble fireplace with floral vases and an undercut cornice of entwining leaves with a guilloche border. A former library to the north is plain and L-shaped with a Regency fireplace. A small study to the southeast mirrors this design. A square hall is repeated on the first floor, but has a flat ceiling pierced by a large circular hole leading to an odd conical vent through the roof space to the circular skylight. A rectangular space to the west facilitates access to the rooms, as only the northwest first-floor room is regularly shaped. Moulded cornices and ceiling borders complete the look. The rear service wing includes a spine corridor and narrow stairs off on the north side.