Golden Grove Mansion

Golden Grove Mansion

An important house in Tudor style with Scottish Baronial features, built in Llangendeirne black marble limestone. The plan comprises the main residence to the right and a long, slightly angled service wing arranged around a courtyard to the left. Steeply pitched slate roofs in graded courses rise behind parapets. A prominent tower stands near the south-west corner; otherwise the house is nearly symmetrical, with double-gabled elevations to both south and north. The building is two storeys and attic in height, standing on a high plinth with basement windows. The service wing to the south-west has low-pitched slate roofs behind parapets.

The main block forms the family house. The entrance elevation faces south, featuring three windows and a tall, deeply projecting porte cochère at the centre. The ashlar masonry is laid in thin, slightly irregularly sized courses, believed to be by Daniel Mainwaring of Carmarthen. Tudor windows with mullions and transoms are curiously adapted to incorporate thin-section sashes. Lower windows and entrance doors have copper glazing bars and label mouldings with everted ends. The attic windows at the centre of each gable are small pointed lancets. Crow-stepped gables with moulded copings to the steps and a prominent base moulding to the parapet complete the elevation.

The porte cochère features similarly coped crenellations and a base moulding to its parapet. It comprises three tall four-centred porch arches with two smaller similar pedestrian arches flanking the entrance stairs, and octagonal corner turrets. The entrance doors and screen are very fine gothic work, consisting of double doors with side lights and a fanlight over a transom, all designed to appear as a six-light heavily moulded screen when shut, with boxed folding shutters at the rear. The joinery is by Armstrong and Siddon of London. White limestone steps lead to the entrance, and ornamental lead rainwater heads and pipes are fitted.

At the junction with the service wing stands a tower in reinforced masonry, rising approximately 10 metres above the eaves and crowned by a tall weather vane. The gables are plain-sided without crow-steps and have small finials; that to the east incorporates a chimney. Lancet attic windows sit above large lozenges, two of which incorporate clock faces. Two-light mullion and transom windows to the south and west overlook the service wing.

The north and side elevations display architectural detailing similar to the south elevation. The north elevation, which faces the garden and serves the dining and drawing rooms, has three windows in width with the central unit as a canted bay continued above the general roof level to form a bay window to the attic. On these three sides, the lower windows have plate glass with no glazing bars. The east side elevation contains four windows: at the left a two-light mullion and transom window over a four-light bay window with flanking lights; a pair of two-light windows centrally; and at the right a two-storey bay window of five lights with flanking lights plus an attic gable. The west side is similar but with some simplification, featuring three two-light windows above and a four-light window with two two-light windows below. Attic gables on both sides are concealed behind the parapets.

Near the junction with the service wing, both at south and north, the masonry transitions from ashlar to axe-dressed stone, then to quasi-rubble in small courses with ashlar dressings. The transition from house to service wing is created by a symmetrical four-window block overlapping the tower, positioned in a plane parallel to the main front elevation but very slightly forward. This has paired central windows with oriels above, flanked by narrow lights, with a parapet stepped at the centre. The oriels have plate glass as in the main house, whilst the other windows retain the small panes characteristic of the service wing.

The service wing proper begins with a large step forward and a change to a plane angled at 30 degrees to that of the house. In the first block of the service wing nearest the house, containing the servants' hall and Steward's room centrally, sash windows appear in mullioned groups of two or four (arranged 2, 2, 4, 4, 2, 2), with ground storey windows incorporating transoms also; the sashes, as in the house itself, are adapted to run behind the transoms. The two centre bays are very slightly advanced. Similar fenestration faces the internal courtyard and the north elevation is centred on the Housekeeper's Room. A prominent ten-stack chimney is positioned here. To the south, the two-storey part of the service wing then changes back through 30 degrees and terminates in a two-bay unit, the left bay being a four-centred luggage-entrance arch with a terminal gable above.

The symmetrical kitchen department follows: a central unit of two storeys, slightly advanced, with a three-light mullioned window above, five-light mullion and transom window below, and a coped gable. This is flanked by one-and-a-half-storey ranges with two-light through-eaves dormers above three-light mullion and transom windows. Deeply projecting eaves on corbels and concealed gutters are fitted throughout.

At the north side, the two-storey part is followed by the single-storey dairy department with a prominent canted bay window, and then the laundry department, also single-storey but with a high roof.

The interior plan is arranged around a central, lantern-topped main staircase. The entrance hall at the main entrance has an interior flight of five steps additional to the exterior ones. Half-height wainscot panelling with tall panels and a mid-rail leads to the central staircase enclosure. The staircase rises around three sides of the room, designed for practical use with its approach from the drawing-room end rather than as a grand staircase facing the entrance. It features a large mahogany handrail with ebony inserts on broad turned and carved balusters, a deep cut string with brackets, and a bottom newel similar to the balusters but larger, standing on two curtail steps. Wainscot dado lines the staircase. The lantern is a clerestory on beams bracketed in from all four wall faces, with a plain lantern ceiling. The joinery is by Armstrong and Siddon.

The principal ground storey rooms include the drawing room at the north-west, featuring a panelled ceiling with large designs at intersections, a broad convolvulus trail ceiling cove, wall panels framed with wainscot between windows, and low wainscot dado. Two doors in a panelled lining lead to the dining room at the north-east, which has a Tudor-style panelled ceiling and a vine trail cove, with a mirror set in a round-headed sideboard recess. Lord Cawdor's room, positioned at the north-east, displays a diaper gothic ceiling with crocketted ribs and a spiral feature in the cove. A coloured marble gothic fireplace with brass arch insert and brass registers for additional convection, an integral brass fender, and low wainscot dado are fitted here. Lady Cawdor's room, to the south, has a plain ceiling with cove, dado, and a figured marble fireplace.

An additional service staircase runs alongside the main staircase, providing complete domestic staff circulation without intrusion upon the family. It features neat Regency design with a thin swept handrail on thin metal balusters and cut strings. This staircase also gives access to the fireproof-vaulted cellars and to the attics.

The nursery suite was positioned above the north part of the service wing.