DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE

Attributed to John Calvert and Associates, ca. 1770s
Ink and wash, 23 x 29 cm, 23 x 28 cm
PE 5129/1, PE 5129/16

Specified for the Music Room at Slebech Hall, near Haverfordwest, these and other designs in ink and wash form a collection of drawings of details of mouldings and cornices for the Music Room, stairs, breakfast parlour and chambers. By no means large, Slebech is one of the most thoughtfully conceived houses of its time in Pembrokeshire.

John Calvert of Swansea, the master builder, but not necessarily the architect of Slebech won a lawsuit against his patron John Symmons in 1779 over his building charges for the property.

The larger and separate Slebech Hall Collection contains estate maps together with general architectural plans of the Hall, colliery workings and labourers' cottages.

RUPERRA CASTLE STABLES

Unidentified Architect, 1790
Ink and watercolour, 59 x 47 cm
Tredegar Collection (734)

The symmetrical architecture of Ruperra Castle with its castellated parapet is mimicked in this service building. Functional, well planned and enclosing a quadrangle it accommodated the castle stables and coach houses together with a host of other ancillary rooms and servants' quarters. Room function is identified on the drawing. A fire in the 1890s destroyed much of the interior but ca. 1910 a grand new block was built with a clock tower over the arched gateway.

Dating from 1626, Sir Thomas Morgan's 'castle', north-east of Cardiff, is associated with the architect Robert Smythson. An unusual square plan building with four elevations and smooth, round towers at its four corners, it was for its time uncharacteristically symmetrical. The castellated parapet was probably added during the eighteenth century following a severe fire. Whilst occupied by troops in 1941, a blaze destroyed the building leaving only a shell.

PLAS YN LLAN AND LLANGYNHAFEL CHURCH (TOP)
PLAS YN RHOS, PROPERTY OF WYNNE ESQ. NEAR RUTHIN (BOTTOM)

John Ingleby, 1793
Ink and watercolour, 27 x 21 cm
PD 9123

Amongst the earliest intricate portrayals of Welsh houses were those commissioned by the eighteenth century antiquary, author and traveller Thomas Pennant. They were executed by Moses Griffith and John Ingleby. Their drawings of the great and lesser gentry houses of North Wales were highly accurate and are now of great value to researchers.

Architectural records are often incidental since artists, authors and cartographers would have prepared their work with another objective in mind having little or no regard to creating a record of architectural interest. An earlier example of such incidental information is witnessed on William Williams's A new map of the County of Denbigh and Flint, ca. 1720. This, the earliest 'large scale' Welsh county map also displays detailed elevations of Clwyd's country houses around its periphery in an attempt to promote its purchase amongst the gentry.

PENNANT ELEVATION AND PLAN AND SECTION

John Cooper, 1798 - 99
Ink and watercolour, 47 x 26 cm, 34 x 47 cm
PZ 4456/8, PZ 4456/24

Informative early drawings from a collection of proposed alterations at Pennant House, Eglwys-bach, near Colwyn Bay were acquired with related manuscripts and maps. The manuscripts include a £480 estimate 'For workmanship and all Materials' and a list of the timbering required.

The maps are original surveys of the property of the Rev. Howel Holland Edwards in the parish of Eglwys-bach by Robert Davies, 1795 - 1800. Attached are additional drawings of Pennant House and stables by architect James Defferd, thought to be of Somerset, who settled in Bangor, ca. 1790.

A builder-architect called John Cooper of Beaumaris, Anglesey was noted in 1796 to be have been in charge of alterations at Chirk Castle, Denbighshire for Richard Myddelton [NLW, MS. 2258C] .

GROUND PLAN AND ELEVATION FOR TWENTY HOUSES PROPOSED TO BE ERECTED ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE LONDON ROAD, CARDIFF

D. Stewart, 1824
Ink and watercolour, 25 x 118 cm, 27 x 116 cm
Bute Collection (A68), (A32)

An elegant neoclassical terrace of slightly bowed plan having larger properties at the centre and at both ends. It is thought to have been proposed for the Newport Road area of Cardiff at the onset of the city's considerable growth, but may not have been built. The imposing planned urban developments of eighteenth century London, Bath and Edinburgh were never matched in Wales where urban expansion had been minimal up until the end of the eighteenth century. However, between ca. 1800 and 1840 the three small West Wales ports of Milford, Tremadoc and Aberaeron were formerly planned partially according to Renaissance principles by dynamic and forward thinking individuals intent on economic and social betterment.

The drawings are presumed to be recommendations by David Stewart, an Edinburgh surveyor who was employed by the 2nd Marquess of Bute to map the much neglected and archaic Bute estate and to reform its management. Stewart's skilled and crucial surveys and reports, completed in 1824 after a decade's work, helped significantly to improve and modernise estate management and drew attention to the estate's industrial potential.

Unfortunately, they came too late to resolve many problems such as disputes over boundaries and mineral rights, vexations which continued for many years.

LAWN LAS [LON LAS], SKEWEN

Unknown Architect, ca. 1850
Ink and watercolour, 48 x 60 cm
A.J. Jenkins Collection (21)

These drawings of an elegant house with classical influences on the outskirts of Skewen, Neath, for one Robert Evans are illustrative of the Library's varied collection. Interestingly and uniquely this sheet includes an estate plan and references to the constituent parts of the property in acres, roods and perches. In effect it imitates the estate maps commissioned by the traditional landed gentry whose lifestyle was often emulated by the new moneyed land-owning classes of tradesmen and industrialists.

Lon Las has since lost most of its parkland to residential development between Skewen and Birchgrove.

BROOM HALL NEW LODGE

Unknown Architect, ca. 1860s
Ink and watercolour, 34 x 43 cm
PD 9679

The estate cottages of Broom Hall, near Pwllheli, whilst not devoid of character were evidently designed with practicality and economy in mind. The 1848 Public Health Act and all subsequent legislation instituted a system of inspection aimed at reducing poor, inadequate housing and overcrowding, particularly in the industrialised areas. The Broom Hall drawings date from a time when much needed housing improvements were also being encouraged in the countryside. See also Plans for labourers' cottages.

PROPOSED VILLA AT LLANDRINDOD FOR R.D.G. PRICE ESQUIRE.

Stephen W. Williams, 1870
Ink and watercolour, 64 x 98 cm
Birmingham Corporation Collection (160)

A Victorian villa with its ornately decorated glazed portico and gable boards typifies the architecture of much of the spa town of Llandrindod Wells which expanded following the coming of the railway during the 1860s. Gone is its period of grandeur as an acclaimed node of health tourism which was boosted by huge capital investment from the 1870s to the 1920s, yet imposing Victorian and Edwardian facades remain.

The villa was probably commissioned for Mr. Dansey Green Price, a notable local land owner. Stephen W. Williams was also a local surveyor, a profession commonly combined with that of architect, as well as an archaeologist and the excavator of Strata Florida.

PLANS FOR LABOURERS' COTTAGES

Inclosure Office, 1872
Print, 34 x 46 cm
Slebech Hall Collection (43)

One attempt to address the immense problems of housing and public health in Victorian Wales. The increasing awareness of the importance of indoor plumbing is manifest in the scullery sinks. Local authorities were compelled to borrow and raise funds to build sewers, drains and water channels, although the costs of such schemes were often prohibitive and advancements depressingly slow. See also Broom Hall New Lodge.

Enquiries into the dwellings and food eaten by the labouring population were undertaken during the 1860s by the Medical Office of the Privy Council. Labourers and their families in south - west Wales were found to endure inferior accommodation, furniture, comfort and health. Their homes were invariably characterised by mud or rubble stone walls, earth floors, thatched roofs and small windows. Diets were also very poor, consisting predominantly of wheaten flour and oatmeal. In all respects, the labourers of south west Wales had a poorer living standard than those in any other region of England and Wales.

TWO HOUSES, BUARTH ROAD, ABERYSTWYTH

G.T. Bassett, 1904
Ink and watercolour, 51 x 74 cm
PZ 5459

In common with many other attractive designs these working copies are annotated in pencil, here seemingly to show amendments to original specifications.Their signature by the mayor, Isaac Hopkins may indicate a stage in the process of planning approval. Plans finally approved were filed with the town's 'building control plans' now deposited in the county Record Office.

Much of the housing in this and other locations on the eastern side of Aberystwyth was constructed for professional and business men who no longer wished to live above their town premisses. The expansion of the University also fostered a greater demand for similar housing at this time. Today many of these large family houses are multiple occupancy residences predominantly accommodating students. The universal movement of the British Victorian middle-class to the more salubrious, often upland suburbs, was particularly evident in Cardiff and Swansea.

NEW HOUSE, MOSS ROAD, GWERSYLLT,. FOR MR. W.J. JACKSON

George Vernon Price, 1914
Ink and watercolour, 58 x 79 cm
PB 9765

Representative of drawings by G.V. Price, depicted here are some of the typical architectural elements of an ordinary house in Gwersyllt, a residential area north of Wrexham.

More modest than the houses designed by Bassett for Buarth Road, Aberystwyth and of a type intended for less affluent clientele the Gwersyllt house drawings identify some intriguing details. For instance, lighter materials in the form of narrower skirting boards and thinner glazing are advocated for the upper floor. Enhancement with bay windows was also gaining popularity for smaller properties.