Old Town Hall
Native name Hen Neuadd y Dref Llandrindod
Old Town Hall
Location	Temple Street, Llandrindod Wells
Coordinates	52°14′27″N 3°22′39″W / 52.2407°N 3.3774°W / 52.2407; -3.3774
Built	1872
Architectural style(s)	Victorian style
Listed Building – Grade II
Official name	Brynarlais
Designated	9 June 2008
Reference no.	87569
Shown in Powys

The Old Town Hall ( Welsh: Hen Neuadd y Dref Llandrindod) is a municipal building in Temple Street, Llandrindod Wells, Powys, Wales. The structure, which accommodates the offices of Llandrindod Wells Town Council, is a Grade II listed building. ^[1]

History

The building was commissioned by the first resident medical doctor in the town, William Bowen-Davies, for use as his private house, which he named "Brynarlais". Bowen-Davies went on to become an expert on the benefits of the mineral waters which were naturally available from the springs in the town. ^[2] The house was designed in the Victorian style, built in a combination of yellow brick and rubble masonry and was completed in around 1872. ^[1]

The design of the original building involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing south; the ground floor, which was built in yellow brick, featured a central arched porch with voussoirs flanked by bay windows, while the first floor, which was built in rubble masonry, was fenestrated with a tall central sash window with an architrave flanked by standard-sized sash windows, also with architraves. The building was extended at the back, along Temple Street, in around 1890 to create additional accommodation for Bowen-Davies' surgery. The extension included a prominent two-storey canted bay which projected forward towards Temple Street and was surmounted by a castellated parapet; there was also an additional porch with columns supporting a modillioned canopy, proving access direct to the surgery. ^[1]

Following significant population growth, largely associated with the large number of visitors to the local mineral water spas, the area became an urban district in 1894. ^[3] In its early years the new urban district council rented various offices around the town for its staff. ^[4] However, after the death of Bowen-Davies in April 1908, Brynarlais was marketed for sale and acquired by the urban district council in 1910. A council chamber and civic rooms were established in the extension at the back of the building. ^{[1] [5]}

A war memorial designed by Benjamin Lloyd, in the form of a soldier with his head bowed standing on a plinth, which was intended to commemorate the lives of local service personnel who had died in the First World War, was erected in a newly landscaped memorial garden in front of the original entrance to the town hall and unveiled by Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire, Lord Ormathwaite, in July 1922. ^{[6] [7]}

The building continued to serve as the offices of the urban district council for much of the 20th century, ^[8] but ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged Radnorshire District Council was formed in 1974. ^[9] Instead, it accommodated the offices of several local businesses as well as the offices of Llandrindod Wells Town Council. ^[10] A tourist information centre was also established in the building. ^[11]

References