Fishguard Bay Hotel

Fishguard Bay Hotel

A later 19th and early 20th-century hotel comprising a substantial south front range of 1900–10 added to a much lower rear range which was formerly Wyncliffe, dating mostly from around 1887.

The south front range is a large building of three storeys and attic with five bays. The left bay is notably wider, taking the form of a full-height canted bay window with a crowning gable. The right end abuts an even larger canted corner entrance tower of four storeys. The exterior is rendered stucco with a slate roof and two stuccoed ridge stacks. The roof is hipped at the south-west corner. Windows are plate glass sashes or early 20th-century imitations, generally fitted with stucco voussoirs and keystones. A moulded string course runs beneath the attic windows, and overhanging bracketed eaves are much broken by gables and dormers.

The left bay features sashes on the three main floors with a string course over the ground floor and an attic gable with fretted bargeboard. The canted sides of this bay contain a short window each with flat eaves. The four-bay main section has a two-storey iron veranda of four bays, with two narrow outer bays to accommodate the canted sides of the flanking structures. Ornate brackets support the columns, the roof is glazed, and iron railings line the first floor. French windows with top-lights serve both floors. The second and attic floors carry sash windows throughout, with attic windows closely spaced and breaking the eaves beneath coped gables.

The four-storey corner entrance tower is stylistically distinctive. Its top floor, positioned above the attic string course, features corbelled octagonal angle shafts rising to a main entablature with a large dentilled cornice beneath curved parapets with angle finials. The lower floors are marked by angle quoins, though the ground floor is now obscured by a large 20th-century flat porch. Sash windows with narrower sidelights light all three upper floors. Within the porch lies the original arched entry, the door featuring sidelights in a large coved surround with a scrolled heavy keystone. Double doors with bevelled glass serve the main entrance, with a matching fanlight above.

The west side, set against the hillside, is plainly treated as a three-storey and attic elevation.

The rear range running north-east comprises three adjoining ranges, each of two storeys and attic, though the centre is lower than the flanking blocks (the centre possibly incorporating an 18th-century house). A modern glazed sun lounge now obscures the entire ground floor. All ranges are rendered stucco with slate roofs featuring ornate fretted bargeboards and sash windows with voussoirs and keystones matching those on the front range.

From left: the first range is a single-window section with an attic sash breaking the eaves in a gable with bargeboard and finial above a storeyed canted bay window with sash lights on the first floor, with a single sash to the left. The centre section is the lowest, comprising two bays with two attic gables carrying sash windows directly over tripartite first-floor sash windows. The right section of two bays is taller, with a left stack and two attic gables with 20th-century windows above a first-floor left-hand storeyed canted bay window with sash lights and a right-hand single sash. Angle quoins and bargeboards mark the gable end. A large ballroom addition dates from 1974 beyond.

The interiors are of principal interest in the 1905–10 front range, which features hardwood panelled doors and panelled dados throughout. Doorcases are moulded and corniced. A polygonal entrance hall contains a panelled reception kiosk and a large open well stair rising to the attic in three flights with landings and iron balusters.

To the west of the hall is a lounge with a three-panel ceiling featuring dentil cornices and panelled pilasters. A fine overmantel in 17th-century style dominates, comprising an open curved pediment with carved fruit and flower drops flanking an eared framed panel. Panelled pilasters frame an eared fireplace surround with carved decoration to the shelf. Doors with etched engraved glass open to the billiard-room beyond (positioned within the canted bay window), which features a very similar fireplace overmantel and a two-panel ceiling.

The main bar elsewhere in the hotel retains a three-panel ceiling and an early 20th-century Ionic columned fireplace with a pulvinated frieze. Much of the remainder of the hotel has undergone substantial alteration.