12 Nightingale Street

12 Nightingale Street is a terraced house forming part of an important early group of industrial housing at Abercanaid, built between 1852 and 1861, possibly by the Plymouth Iron Company to house workers employed at the Abercanaid Pit and Pentrebach Forge.

The original settlement comprised 7 terraces arranged in 4 rows facing east between the river and canal—one in River Row, two facing and two backing onto Nightingale Street, and two in Canal Row—together with three longer rows to the north known as The Squares, a terrace of larger houses backing onto the canal, and two detached houses for higher-grade employees. Of these, the 7 terraces survive, with 5 listed (though much altered since listing in 1975), and the two rear terraces in Canal Row remain unlisted. The northern terraces have all been demolished, as has one of the detached houses; the other, Llwynyreos, survives.

Though small, the houses are relatively generous for their era, comparable to those at the nearby Triangle in Pentrebach (now demolished). They are double-fronted rather than the single-window-and-door type seen in earlier examples, such as the terrace from Rhydycar, now at St Fagans Museum. The houses are narrow with roof-spans of 4-5 metres and without rear outshuts, since they had roads or access paths both front and back. As built, they are planned around a centre passageway and rear staircase. The rubble stone facades are slightly offset to accommodate larger kitchen chimneys, with the offset side alternated to create mirrored pairs. Gardens in front or behind were accessed across a footpath running down the terrace line. Houses backing onto gardens (numbers 70-81 Nightingale Street) have generally been extended to the rear; others retain their original depth.

12 Nightingale Street is an end terrace house originally constructed of squared rubble stone with a close-eaved slate roof and stone end stacks. It is two storeys tall and double-fronted with small-paned sash windows, two per floor, and a centre door probably with an overlight. Stone voussoirs frame openings on both floors, with stone sills below. The rear wall, also of rubble stone, originally had one small door and pantry window to one side below, and one small upper window.

The property now has 12-pane horned sashes (restored since 1975) with stuccoed thin surrounds to the windows, concrete tiles, the right chimney is missing, and a 20th-century door with overlight. The rear wall to Nightingale Street has a low door and tiny window to the left, with an upper window to the right.

Similar houses further south in Nightingale Street appear to be of later date and are also much altered, though they contribute to the character of the Abercanaid settlement.