Forest House, University of Glamorgan

Forest House is a late-Georgian style house dating from the late 18th century, with a rear service wing and a left-side wing added in the early 20th century. The main house is of two storeys and seven bays, with a rubble-stone basement and rendered, white-painted walls above. It has a hipped roof with synthetic slates replacing the original, and bracketed eaves. The front elevation features 12-pane sash windows in moulded architraves, with taller windows on the ground floor and a sill band on the upper floor. A single-storey porch, added in the third quarter of the 19th century, is centrally located and features paired fluted pilasters, replaced double doors beneath a round arch with overlight, and a concealed cornice. The side walls of the main house combine rubble walls with brick dressings and flat arches over sash windows. The left side wall has two narrower bays, with a vertical joint and a later two-bay extension, which incorporates a domed cellar below. The right side wall also has two bays, beyond which the main stair is recessed within a walled courtyard. The service wing is constructed of snecked stone with tooled dressings and has a hipped roof with synthetic slates replacing the original. It presents three bays to the right side wall and five bays to the rear, with a central two-storey canted bay window.

A later link connects the service wing to a three-storey wing added in the early 20th century by Teather & Wilson, which is set well back to the left of the main house. This wing has pebble-dashed, white-painted walls and replaced windows, and a shallow pitched felt roof dating from the early 1990s. The front and the left side wall feature simple classical detailing in the two lower storeys.

Inside, an elliptical entrance arch with half-round columns leads to a stair hall added in the third quarter of the 19th century. The stair has a wreathed hand rail, plain balusters, and moulded tread ends. Two large rooms flank the stair hall; the right room retains panelled window shutters, while the left room has been subdivided. The rear service wing contains an open-well stair with iron balusters. A domed cellar or cistern with a central pillar on a plinth is located beneath the left side of the house.