Plas Mawr Elizabethan Town House - High Street, Conwy
After a visit to Aberconwy House in Conwy, it was still raining. Heading up the High Street towards the railway station and Lancaster Square.
Plas Mawr Elizabethan Town House
This charming 16th-century residence provides audio tours & is popular as a wedding venue.
Plas (English: Great Hall) is an Elizabethan townhouse in Conwy, North Wales, dating from the 16th century. The property was built by Robert Wynn, a member of the local gentry, following his marriage to his first wife, Dorothy Griffith. Plas Mawr occupied a plot of land off Conwy's High Street and was constructed in three phases between 1576 and 1585 at a total cost of around £800.[a] Wynn was known for his hospitality, and the household was supported by Wynn's local dairy herds, orchards and gardens. On his death he laid out complex instructions for dividing his estate; the resulting law-case took years to resolve, effectively preventing the redevelopment of the house and preserving it in its original condition.
After 1683 Plas Mawr passed into the hands of the Mostyn family and ceased to be used as a family home. It was rented out for various purposes during the 18th and 19th centuries, including for use as a school, cheap lodgings and finally as the headquarters of the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art. In the 20th century the house became increasingly well known for its preserved Elizabethan architecture, but the costs of maintenance grew considerably and its condition deteriorated. The Welsh heritage agency Cadw took over the management of the property in 1993 and carried out an extensive, 42-month-long restoration project at a total cost of £3.3 million. With many of its rooms redecorated to resemble their condition in 1665, and replanted Renaissance gardens, it is now run as a tourist attraction.
Architecturally, Plas Mawr is almost unchanged from the 16th century, and the historian Rick Turner considers the house to be "the finest surviving town house of the Elizabethan era". Plas Mawr shows a blend of continental Renaissance and local North Wales influences, with an innovative floor-plan and architectural detailing. The house still retains much of its original plasterwork, which incorporates symbols, badges and heraldry, which the historian Peter Smith has described as "the most perfect and the most complete memorial to Elizabethan Wales." The architecture of the house influenced other contemporary projects in North Wales, and was later copied during the 19th and 20th centuries in buildings around the town of Conwy, including the local police station and nearby hotel.
Grade II Listed Building
History
A C16 or early C17 house with a rear wing that is possibly contemporary. The front was remodelled in the C19, incorporating a shop front that has since been altered.
Exterior
Belongs to a group of 20-22 High Street.
A 2-storey 3-window house and shop of whitened pebble-dashed front with black-painted smooth-rendered plinth and imitation timber-framing in the upper storey, steep slate roof, reduced stone stack to the L, central brick stack and projecting 1st-floor stack to the R gable end. The building has been subdivided at ground-floor level into a 2-window house on the L (No 22) and 1-window shop on the R (No 20).
The shop has a symmetrical front with panelled stall riser, plate glass windows with colonnettes, fascia and billet frieze to the cornice. It has a central recessed glazed door with lower panel, and overlight. No 22 has pilaster strips in the lower storey. Its central entrance is reached up slate steps, with scrollwork iron railings. Its replacement half-glazed fielded-panel door is under an earlier lozenge-pattern overlight. The entrance is flanked by a 20-pane hornless sash window on the L, and similar 16-pane window on the R, both with eared and lugged architraves with pediments. First floor hornless sash windows are 20-pane to the R and L and 16-pane in the centre.
Gable ends and rear are of rubble stone. In the L gable end the stonework is uneven, suggesting partial rebuilding. On the L side are inserted ground and 1st-floor windows. The rear has 2 1st-floor 2-light casement windows above a pebble-dash lean-to with fixed small-pane and C20 steel-framed 2-light windows. A replacement doorway is in its splayed L end.
The 1½-storey rear wing is in line with the L gable end. It has a large rear lateral stack offset to the L, the upper part of which is rebuilt in brick. Facing the courtyard at the rear of the house the openings are all altered. At the L end is an original timber lintel over a later half-glazed door and small-pane window. Next R is a half-glazed door under an original timber lintel. Further R are a fixed inserted window, then C19 brick segmental heads to a boarded door and another fixed window. The attic has a shuttered opening to the L and a larger opening to the R infilled with C20 glazing. The gable end of the rear wing, where the ground level is higher, has an inserted panel door in a concrete surround to the attic. The rear, facing the entrance to Bull Cottages, has a small-pane 3-light casement window under a wooden lintel.
Interior
In the 1st floor, at the R-hand end over the shop, is an original fireplace with stone shouldered lintel. The rear wing has 2 rooms with joist-beam ceilings, one with run-out stops, and a large fireplace with timber lintel.
Reasons for Listing
Listed with No 20 as a house of C16-C17 origin retaining original detail but with C19 front of definite character, and for group value within the historical townscape.
History
A C16 or early C17 house with a rear wing that is possibly contemporary. The front was remodelled in the C19, incorporating a shop front that has since been altered.
Exterior
Belongs to a group of 20-22 High Street.
A 2-storey 3-window house and shop of whitened pebble-dashed front with black-painted smooth-rendered plinth and imitation timber-framing in the upper storey, steep slate roof, reduced stone stack to the L, central brick stack and projecting 1st-floor stack to the R gable end. The building has been subdivided at ground-floor level into a 2-window house on the L (No 22) and 1-window shop on the R (No 20).
The shop has a symmetrical front with panelled stall riser, plate glass windows with colonnettes, fascia and billet frieze to the cornice. It has a central recessed glazed door with lower panel, and overlight. No 22 has pilaster strips in the lower storey. Its central entrance is reached up slate steps, with scrollwork iron railings. Its replacement half-glazed fielded-panel door is under an earlier lozenge-pattern overlight. The entrance is flanked by a 20-pane hornless sash window on the L, and similar 16-pane window on the R, both with eared and lugged architraves with pediments. First floor hornless sash windows are 20-pane to the R and L and 16-pane in the centre.
Gable ends and rear are of rubble stone. In the L gable end the stonework is uneven, suggesting partial rebuilding. On the L side are inserted ground and 1st-floor windows. The rear has 2 1st-floor 2-light casement windows above a pebble-dash lean-to with fixed small-pane and C20 steel-framed 2-light windows. A replacement doorway is in its splayed L end.
The 1½-storey rear wing is in line with the L gable end. It has a large rear lateral stack offset to the L, the upper part of which is rebuilt in brick. Facing the courtyard at the rear of the house the openings are all altered. At the L end is an original timber lintel over a later half-glazed door and small-pane window. Next R is a half-glazed door under an original timber lintel. Further R are a fixed inserted window, then C19 brick segmental heads to a boarded door and another fixed window. The attic has a shuttered opening to the L and a larger opening to the R infilled with C20 glazing. The gable end of the rear wing, where the ground level is higher, has an inserted panel door in a concrete surround to the attic. The rear, facing the entrance to Bull Cottages, has a small-pane 3-light casement window under a wooden lintel.
Interior
In the 1st floor, at the R-hand end over the shop, is an original fireplace with stone shouldered lintel. The rear wing has 2 rooms with joist-beam ceilings, one with run-out stops, and a large fireplace with timber lintel.
Reasons for Listing
Listed with No 22 as part of a house of C16-C17 origin retaining original detail but with C19 front of definite character, and for group value within the historical townscape.
Plas Mawr Elizabethan Town House - High Street, Conwy
After a visit to Aberconwy House in Conwy, it was still raining. Heading up the High Street towards the railway station and Lancaster Square.
Plas Mawr Elizabethan Town House
This charming 16th-century residence provides audio tours & is popular as a wedding venue.
Plas (English: Great Hall) is an Elizabethan townhouse in Conwy, North Wales, dating from the 16th century. The property was built by Robert Wynn, a member of the local gentry, following his marriage to his first wife, Dorothy Griffith. Plas Mawr occupied a plot of land off Conwy's High Street and was constructed in three phases between 1576 and 1585 at a total cost of around £800.[a] Wynn was known for his hospitality, and the household was supported by Wynn's local dairy herds, orchards and gardens. On his death he laid out complex instructions for dividing his estate; the resulting law-case took years to resolve, effectively preventing the redevelopment of the house and preserving it in its original condition.
After 1683 Plas Mawr passed into the hands of the Mostyn family and ceased to be used as a family home. It was rented out for various purposes during the 18th and 19th centuries, including for use as a school, cheap lodgings and finally as the headquarters of the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art. In the 20th century the house became increasingly well known for its preserved Elizabethan architecture, but the costs of maintenance grew considerably and its condition deteriorated. The Welsh heritage agency Cadw took over the management of the property in 1993 and carried out an extensive, 42-month-long restoration project at a total cost of £3.3 million. With many of its rooms redecorated to resemble their condition in 1665, and replanted Renaissance gardens, it is now run as a tourist attraction.
Architecturally, Plas Mawr is almost unchanged from the 16th century, and the historian Rick Turner considers the house to be "the finest surviving town house of the Elizabethan era". Plas Mawr shows a blend of continental Renaissance and local North Wales influences, with an innovative floor-plan and architectural detailing. The house still retains much of its original plasterwork, which incorporates symbols, badges and heraldry, which the historian Peter Smith has described as "the most perfect and the most complete memorial to Elizabethan Wales." The architecture of the house influenced other contemporary projects in North Wales, and was later copied during the 19th and 20th centuries in buildings around the town of Conwy, including the local police station and nearby hotel.
Grade II Listed Building
History
A C16 or early C17 house with a rear wing that is possibly contemporary. The front was remodelled in the C19, incorporating a shop front that has since been altered.
Exterior
Belongs to a group of 20-22 High Street.
A 2-storey 3-window house and shop of whitened pebble-dashed front with black-painted smooth-rendered plinth and imitation timber-framing in the upper storey, steep slate roof, reduced stone stack to the L, central brick stack and projecting 1st-floor stack to the R gable end. The building has been subdivided at ground-floor level into a 2-window house on the L (No 22) and 1-window shop on the R (No 20).
The shop has a symmetrical front with panelled stall riser, plate glass windows with colonnettes, fascia and billet frieze to the cornice. It has a central recessed glazed door with lower panel, and overlight. No 22 has pilaster strips in the lower storey. Its central entrance is reached up slate steps, with scrollwork iron railings. Its replacement half-glazed fielded-panel door is under an earlier lozenge-pattern overlight. The entrance is flanked by a 20-pane hornless sash window on the L, and similar 16-pane window on the R, both with eared and lugged architraves with pediments. First floor hornless sash windows are 20-pane to the R and L and 16-pane in the centre.
Gable ends and rear are of rubble stone. In the L gable end the stonework is uneven, suggesting partial rebuilding. On the L side are inserted ground and 1st-floor windows. The rear has 2 1st-floor 2-light casement windows above a pebble-dash lean-to with fixed small-pane and C20 steel-framed 2-light windows. A replacement doorway is in its splayed L end.
The 1½-storey rear wing is in line with the L gable end. It has a large rear lateral stack offset to the L, the upper part of which is rebuilt in brick. Facing the courtyard at the rear of the house the openings are all altered. At the L end is an original timber lintel over a later half-glazed door and small-pane window. Next R is a half-glazed door under an original timber lintel. Further R are a fixed inserted window, then C19 brick segmental heads to a boarded door and another fixed window. The attic has a shuttered opening to the L and a larger opening to the R infilled with C20 glazing. The gable end of the rear wing, where the ground level is higher, has an inserted panel door in a concrete surround to the attic. The rear, facing the entrance to Bull Cottages, has a small-pane 3-light casement window under a wooden lintel.
Interior
In the 1st floor, at the R-hand end over the shop, is an original fireplace with stone shouldered lintel. The rear wing has 2 rooms with joist-beam ceilings, one with run-out stops, and a large fireplace with timber lintel.
Reasons for Listing
Listed with No 20 as a house of C16-C17 origin retaining original detail but with C19 front of definite character, and for group value within the historical townscape.
History
A C16 or early C17 house with a rear wing that is possibly contemporary. The front was remodelled in the C19, incorporating a shop front that has since been altered.
Exterior
Belongs to a group of 20-22 High Street.
A 2-storey 3-window house and shop of whitened pebble-dashed front with black-painted smooth-rendered plinth and imitation timber-framing in the upper storey, steep slate roof, reduced stone stack to the L, central brick stack and projecting 1st-floor stack to the R gable end. The building has been subdivided at ground-floor level into a 2-window house on the L (No 22) and 1-window shop on the R (No 20).
The shop has a symmetrical front with panelled stall riser, plate glass windows with colonnettes, fascia and billet frieze to the cornice. It has a central recessed glazed door with lower panel, and overlight. No 22 has pilaster strips in the lower storey. Its central entrance is reached up slate steps, with scrollwork iron railings. Its replacement half-glazed fielded-panel door is under an earlier lozenge-pattern overlight. The entrance is flanked by a 20-pane hornless sash window on the L, and similar 16-pane window on the R, both with eared and lugged architraves with pediments. First floor hornless sash windows are 20-pane to the R and L and 16-pane in the centre.
Gable ends and rear are of rubble stone. In the L gable end the stonework is uneven, suggesting partial rebuilding. On the L side are inserted ground and 1st-floor windows. The rear has 2 1st-floor 2-light casement windows above a pebble-dash lean-to with fixed small-pane and C20 steel-framed 2-light windows. A replacement doorway is in its splayed L end.
The 1½-storey rear wing is in line with the L gable end. It has a large rear lateral stack offset to the L, the upper part of which is rebuilt in brick. Facing the courtyard at the rear of the house the openings are all altered. At the L end is an original timber lintel over a later half-glazed door and small-pane window. Next R is a half-glazed door under an original timber lintel. Further R are a fixed inserted window, then C19 brick segmental heads to a boarded door and another fixed window. The attic has a shuttered opening to the L and a larger opening to the R infilled with C20 glazing. The gable end of the rear wing, where the ground level is higher, has an inserted panel door in a concrete surround to the attic. The rear, facing the entrance to Bull Cottages, has a small-pane 3-light casement window under a wooden lintel.
Interior
In the 1st floor, at the R-hand end over the shop, is an original fireplace with stone shouldered lintel. The rear wing has 2 rooms with joist-beam ceilings, one with run-out stops, and a large fireplace with timber lintel.
Reasons for Listing
Listed with No 22 as part of a house of C16-C17 origin retaining original detail but with C19 front of definite character, and for group value within the historical townscape.