History

Built 1920-22 by F. Howarth, architect of Tywyn, as a war memorial funded by public subscription. The contractor was Hughes & Edwards of Tywyn.

Exterior

A late Arts-and-Crafts style hospital of whitened roughcast with graded-slate roof on swept eaves, with brick stacks and a ridge louvre. Most windows are replacements. The long single-storey block has a cranked plan with rear wings. At the L end of the front block is a former house, which has a mansard roof and a central brick chimney. The central entrance has a half-lit panel door under a segmental head and framed by a wider shallow segmental arch. It is flanked by pairs of windows. Two raked roof dormers have wider windows. To the R of the house is an archway (R), with a window to its R, then an unusual porch with a stepped gable crowned by a ball finial, octagonal buttresses, a round arch with keystone, and a round-headed doorway with overlight incorporating double-leaf doors with small-pane glazing to upper panels. Further R are 2 square windows, then a simple full-height buttress and 6 taller windows. From here the plan angles slightly forward. A gabled porch has splayed buttresses, a round arch with triple keystone and a stone tablet inscribed 'Towyn Cottage Hospital'. Inside the porch double half-glazed doors have half-glazed side panels and overlights. The porch is flanked by original round-headed windows with stained glass heads and 2-light small-pane casements. To the R of the porch are 3 more windows, of which the end window is under a canopy attached to a later C20 extension, which has a basement storey of snecked stone as the ground level falls away here.

Rear elevations are mostly of whitened brick with replacement windows. A 1½-storey rear wing has a segmental-headed stair window and 2 hipped roof dormers with 2-light small-pane windows. It has a lower gabled projection to the end and a flat-roof corridor link to service buildings. To its R is a brick wing extended in the later C20. Further L is a 2-storey wing at a splayed angle, with further extensions beyond.

Interior

The entrance lobby has a plastered groin vault in its central bay. Its side bays have fitted wooden benches. In the L-hand bay is a classical wooden war memorial and a fireplace. On the rear wall is a 1939-45 war memorial with bronze infantryman in high relief. On the R side are bronze plaques in a classical wooden frame, recording legacies to the hospital over the period 1924-46. In the R side wall is a foundation tablet laid by Mrs Lloyd-George, wife of the prime minister, in 1920. Double half-glazed panel doors lead to an axial corridor, opposite which is an open-well stair with moulded newels and turned balusters. Other parts of the hospital have been modernised.

Reasons for Listing

Listed for its special architectural interest as a well-preserved cottage hospital in late Arts-and-Crafts style, making use of traditional Welsh building materials of roughcast and slate.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q29496192

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform your home with paint & paper
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990