Craig-y-parc House

Craig-y-parc House is a large mansion in Arts and Crafts Lutyenesque style, based on a Tudor manor house. Built of coursed, snecked rock-faced sandstone quarried locally with yellow limestone dressings, it has a tile roof with swept eaves and long narrow stacks parallel to the main ridge set across the cross gables.

The main entrance faces north at the rear. This elevation features mostly small windows of two or more lights with moulded mullions, surrounds, quarry glazing and narrow tile hoods. The main section is slightly asymmetrical though balanced, comprising three gabled cross wings with narrow predominantly horizontal windows to the first and ground floors of the two side wings. The centre wing has the main square-headed entrance doorway with slightly recessed Doric columns supporting an entablature with a triglyph frieze, a 12-panelled front door, and above it a window at attic level. The intervening recessed bays have windows directly under the swept eaves and others at ground floor level, with gabled tile-hung roof dormers above. Extending to the left with a lower ridge is an extensive service wing which returns with a two-storey gabled cross wing and tall stacks, extending to form a single storey courtyard entrance with a wooden-faced gable to the rear and a garage and workshop cross wing. The east-facing side of the two-storey service wing has deeply swept eaves with tall stacks and a series of matching roof dormers with leaded windows; the ground floor has windows of multiple mullioned lights. The south-facing gabled frontage has a two-storey bay window and a wide lateral stack.

The garden-facing south frontage is more expansive with larger windows of multipane lights with mullions and transoms. The design is based on two-storey cross gables at each end with wide windows to each floor linked by an atrium formed by colonnades of Doric piers with an entablature with triglyph frieze rising to a stone balustrade, forming a first floor balcony with a range of windows behind and large gabled dormers in the swept roof above. Two tall slender stacks on the ends of intermediate cross gables complete the composition. Ground floor windows behind the atrium are leaded, full-length windows that incorporate doors leading to the terrace and are flanked by pilasters. To the right and stepped back is the service wing frontage with a two-storey canted bay in yellow limestone and a prominent lateral stack; a cross wing with ventilators. The west-facing side elevation has a central projecting cross gable with swept eaves, a two-bay range to the left with mullioned lights to each floor and a roof swept down to the right; a later glazed corridor extension for institutional use has been attached at ground floor level.

The interior has been partly refurnished for institutional use but retains many original fittings. The main entrance leads into a small circular hall from which long access corridors extend, with the main reception rooms facing the garden, including rooms either side of the garden entrance hall behind the colonnade. The rooms are lavishly panelled with stained and varnished wood with heavy mouldings and polished floors. Ceilings are low and some have timber cornices and further panelling; the raised end bays of the hall have Doric wood columns. The moulded stone fireplaces of the hall and sitting room are recessed within wide panelled bays. The dining room has linenfold panelling.

A grand wooden staircase in sixteenth-century style rises at the east end, lit by a long staircase window of leaded quarries, transoms and mullions overlooking the panelled open well. Heavy chamfered posts support the flights which have deep strings, a newel post with deep moulded finials, a heavily moulded handrail and turned balusters; the underside of the staircase where visible is also panelled. Some bathrooms retain their original china fittings and decorative tiling to walls and matching terrazzo floors. Some rooms on the upper floor retain recessed tiled washing bays within the panelling, with basins set in marble slabs.