WYNNSTAY, SECTIONAL ELEVATION OF THE EAST END OF THE CHAPEL WITH PART OF THE LIBRARY

James Byres, 1770
Ink and watercolour, 63 cm x 97 cm
Williams Wynn Deposit Collection
PY 1698

Wynnstay, above the River Dee near Ruabon was home to the Williams-Wynns, the largest and wealthiest of Welsh landowners. The architects Brown, Cockerell, Gandon, Gummow, Pritchard, Francis and William Smith and James Wyatt are associated with Wynnstay whilst proposals by several others, including Byres were unexecuted. The Byres designs are nevertheless the most aspiring and exquisite ever proposed for a Welsh country house during the eighteenth century.

The Catholic Byres who lived in Rome illustrated the east end of the magnificent chapel in a rich Roman Doric. Justice and Plenty appear above the altar and the apostles Peter and Paul flank a depiction of the Holy Spirit. Byres's Wynnstay drawings, originally fifty-eight in total, reflect contemporary Roman architecture. They took over a year and a half to produce and must have involved at least three artist-draughtsmen. However, for a variety of reasons, this project was abandoned together with an earlier one given to Robert Adam.

WYNNSTAY, SECTIONAL ELEVATION OF THE LIBRARY AND BEDROOMS ABOVE

James Byres, 1770
Ink and watercolour, 62 cm x 97 cm
Williams Wynn Deposit Collection
PY 1705

A library of Palladian character, the fenestration of the east wall limiting the space available for bookshelves. Bedrooms and closets are seen above.

REDOUBT, MILFORD HAVEN

Unknown Architect, ca. 1800
Ink and watercolour, 31 x 40 cm, 18 x 60 cm, 21 x 41 cm, 42 x 38 cm
PG 993 - 4, PG 996, PG 998

These singular drawings show an intended polygonal bastion by a military architect to defend the proposed naval dockyard at Milford Haven, a scheme which was aborted because facilities were transferred to Pembroke Dock, the largest planned town created in Wales between 1780 and 1850. Here a similar defensible barracks was constructed between 1844 - 45 to protect the town and dockyard.

Some drawings, such as the displayed 'Elevation and section of the Lodgement' are on coupled sheets, the topmost and smaller of which, showing an exterior, can be turned like a page, revealing a plan or section of the building on the base sheet. Drawings of the shot reverbatory furnace are indeed unique.

PARISH CHURCH, BANGOR

Lewis William Wyatt, 1812
Ink and watercolour, 42 x 28 cm
PZ 4411/1

This small, unsophisticated church by Lewis Wyatt was apparently never built. Wyatt, (ca. 1778 - 1853) of Bangor, studied at the Royal Academy Schools and established an independent practice in London where he conducted most of his business. He seems to have undertaken little work in his native area.

NANTEOS

George Repton, ca. 1815
Ink and watercolour
Nanteos Collection (131)

Unsigned, but attributed to John Nash's office, this and other similarly exquisite perspective drawings in our collection may have been by George Repton, 1814 - 17. Nanteos, Aberystwyth, a Palladian style mansion dating from 1739 retains a facade which is somewhat austere, this scheme having been abandoned.

The Nanteos Collection also includes plans, elevations and sections of the house, together with its outbuildings and estate properties.

NORTH ROAD ESTATE, ABERYSTWITH

H.D. Davis, ca. 1864
Print, 52 x 39 cm
PZ 4422

Elevations of proposed semidetached villas, terraced houses and shops, provide an idea of the type of development envisaged for North Road, Aberystwyth. The houses eventually erected in this area at the turn of the century are similar but not identical to those depicted. This print with associated text concerning construction dimensions and legal arrangements, is unusual in our collection and seems to have been published to promote residential development on the eastern periphery of the town by entrepreneur J. B. Balcombe. Balcombe, also one-time managing director of the Hafod Hotel Company, Devil's Bridge undoubtedly recognised enhanced business potential with the opening of the railway to Aberystwyth in 1864. See also the accompanying Plan of land at Aberystwyth....

PLAN OF LAND AT ABERYSTWITH TO BE LET AS BUILDING LEASES 1864

H.D. Davis, 1864
Print, 53 x 41 cm
Gogerddan Collection (452)

Printed to accompany the displayed North Road elevations, the plots too (coloured green) were never realized. In reality and ironically houses now occupy the land 'to be laid out as a pleasure garden' whilst Aberystwyth recreation ground and bowling green occupy proposed plots 9 to 26. The large Queens Hotel and 'The Baths' are indicative of the town's new role as a sea side resort whilst the rope walk was an integral feature of Aberystwyth's maritime tradition of ropemaking, sailmaking and ship building.

BARMOUTH, NORTH WALES, PARTICULARS AND PROPOSED PROSPECTUS. ORIELTON HALL NEW HOTEL

J. Coates Carter, T. Raffles Davison and Parker Hagarty, ca. 1900
Printed, 35 x 22 cm
PG 2426/153

This grandiose project to develop Orielton Hall and to establish a leisure and health complex within its grounds never materialised. The prospectus contains interior and exterior perspectives and architectural and site plans of the Hall and the Nature Kurhaus. Also included are photographs of the existing grounds and financial particulars of a company proposed to be formed to acquire and develop the estate including information on shares, debentures and estimated revenues. The hotel later became a hostel and Orielton wood remains largely undisturbed.