Ffrwdgrech House

Ffrwdgrech House

A smaller country house of late Georgian style. The building is rendered with stucco painted in 20th-century sand-textured paint and has a green stone plinth. The roofing is slate with low pitch on deep eaves, supported by paired brackets. Tall cut-stone chimneys feature plinth, shaft, frieze moulding and moulded cornice, possibly dating to the later 19th century.

The house is two storeys, rising to three storeys at the service end. The original section lies to the left with a three-bay entrance front. The outer bays are slightly advanced and carry bracketed deep pediments. Windows are 12-pane hornless sashes, much larger on the ground floor, with cornices on consoles. The left bay has no windows, apparently blocked in the late 19th century, presumably to accommodate a gable chimney. A glazed centre door sits within a moulded architrave with panelled piers, frieze and cornice, set within a fine Bath stone Ionic portico. The portico has paired unfluted Ionic columns and frieze in Bath stone, though the cornice and blocking course are in red sandstone. Stone flagged paving leads to the door. A large ridge chimney sits left of the centre bay.

Continuous to the right is a three-window range with later 19th-century narrow 4-pane sash windows, followed by the slightly taller hipped end of an added service block with a chimney on the right of the roof hip.

The east side features a three-sided canted projection to the left with a hipped roof and a tall chimney on the roof slope just to the right of the projection. The right side has a first-floor plain window with late 19th-century glazing above a large floor-length tripartite window (4-12-4 panes) with a consoled cornice. The canted projection is almost entirely windowless except for a first-floor centre 12-pane sash.

The south side presents a similar original three-bay range to the right, with pediments on the outer bays. These outer bays contain 12-pane sashes above similar large ground-floor tripartite sashes with cornices on consoles. The centre bay's ground floor is blank. An axial chimney in the valley sits behind the left pediment. A Victorian addition runs continuously to the left, with a ridge stack just left of the original range. A large two-storey canted projection spans the centre and right, fronted by a plate glass sash above a broad cambered opening with double doors, sidelights and tall triple overlight, opening under a glazed veranda with iron columns. The veranda fills the bay between the canted side of the projection and the canted corner of a taller end range, which has a near-windowless end wall, hipped roof and large end stack. A three-storey front to the service yard comprises five bays with 12-pane sashes and larger ground-floor windows, finished with flat eaves.

The entrance hall contains an elaborate deeply-moulded cornice, shallow pilasters, panelled doors and doorcases, with a niche positioned between the dining and sitting room doorcases. A cantilevered open-well stair with iron balustrade rises from here, continuing to the landing. The library, converted in the 1930s, retains a 19th-century cornice, shelves, doors and fireplace in hardwood, possibly cedar. The sitting room features an egg-and-dart cornice moulding, anthemion ceiling rose, marble fireplace and original doorcases. The dining room is fitted with an acanthus cornice, anthemion ceiling rose and original doorcases. A late 19th-century billiard-room has panelled dado with a raised entrance flanked by Doric pillars, and a wood and stone chimneypiece. A restored coved ceiling crowns the landing, with a panelled elliptical arch leading to the bedroom lobby. Bedrooms contain simple cornices, panelled doors and fireplaces. The service wing retains many Victorian 'below stairs' fittings.