Laura Place, in the centre of

Aberystwyth Aberystwyth (; ) is a University town, university and seaside town and a community (Wales), community in Ceredigion, Wales. It is the largest town in Ceredigion and from Aberaeron, the county's other administrative centre. In 2021, the popula ...

Ceredigion Ceredigion (), historically Cardiganshire (, ), is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the West Wales, west of Wales. It borders Gwynedd across the River Dyfi, Dyfi estuary to the north, Powys to the east, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire t ...

, Wales is a

terrace Terrace may refer to: Landforms and construction * Fluvial terrace, a natural, flat surface that borders and lies above the floodplain of a stream or river * Terrace, a street suffix * Terrace, the portion of a lot between the public sidewalk a ...

of mid-19th century townhouses. Pevsner considers them "the finest Georgian houses of the town". Laura Place forms two sides of a square, fronting the Church of St Michael and All Angels in the shadow of

Aberystwyth Castle Aberystwyth Castle () is a Grade I listed Edwardian fortress located in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Mid Wales. It was built in response to the First Welsh War in the late 13th century, replacing an earlier fortress located a mile to the south. Du ...

. It was developed in the early 19th century by William Edward Powell of Nanteos, High Sheriff and Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire. Powell's architect is uncertain, but

Cadw (, a Welsh verbal noun meaning "keeping/preserving") is the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group. works to protect the historic buildings and structures, the landscapes and heritage ...

suggests George Stanley Repton as a possibility. Repton was certainly the architect of the Assembly Rooms, a separate building standing between 1-9 and 11-12. The Assembly Rooms later became the first home of the

National Library of Wales The National Library of Wales (, ) in Aberystwyth is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million books and periodicals, and the l ...

. The Place was named after Powell's first wife, Laura Edwyna Phelp, who died in 1822. No.s 1-9 inclusive, and No.s 11 and 12 Laura Place are Grade II* listed buildings. The Assembly Rooms are also Grade II*.

History

William Edward Powell was a landowner and

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for

Cardiganshire Ceredigion (), historically Cardiganshire (, ), is a county in the west of Wales. It borders Gwynedd across the Dyfi estuary to the north, Powys to the east, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. Ab ...

from 1816 until shortly before his death in 1854. He was made High Sheriff in 1810 and Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire in 1817. He lived at Nanteos and developed Laura Place in the 1820s; No. 11 being the Powell

townhouse A townhouse, townhome, town house, or town home, is a type of Terraced house, terraced housing. A modern townhouse is often one with a small footprint on multiple floors. In a different British usage, the term originally referred to any type o ...

in Aberystwyth and No. 12 serving as the estate office. The remainder was speculative building development. Powell engaged George Stanley Repton to design the Assembly Rooms, intended as a gathering place for the fashionable visitors to

Regency In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

Aberystwyth. The town was developed throughout the 19th century as a

seaside resort A seaside resort is a city, resort town, town, village, or hotel that serves as a Resort, vacation resort and is located on a coast. Sometimes the concept includes an aspect of an official accreditation based on the satisfaction of certain requi ...

, and was publicised as the "

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

of Wales".

suggest that Repton may also have undertaken the design of other buildings in Laura Place, for example No.s 5 and 6. The development was named in honour of Powell's first wife, Laura Edwyna, who died in 1822. The Assembly Rooms subsequently served as the first, temporary, home of the

, and now is part of the Music Department of

Aberystwyth University Aberystwyth University () is a Public university, public Research university, research university in Aberystwyth, Wales. Aberystwyth was a founding member institution of the former federal University of Wales. The university has over 8,000 stude ...

. The majority of the other buildings in Laura Place remain private residences, although many have been sub-divided into flats. Some of the houses were part of the university estate, but most have been sold in the last ten years.

Architecture and description

Thomas Lloyd, Julian Orbach and Robert Scourfield, in their ''Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion'' volume in the Pevsner Buildings of Wales series, describe Laura Place as comprising "the finest Georgian houses of the town."

considers it a "striking and unusual example of sophisticated urban Georgian building". The houses are of two storeys, with attics and basements, and with roofs of Welsh

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

. The two rows face the Church of St Michael and All Angels. The original church was designed for William Powell by Edward Haycock Sr., who also undertook work at Nanteos. No.s 1-9, and No.s 11 and 12 Laura Place are each separately designated by Cadw, the statutory body with responsibility for the listing of buildings in Wales, as a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. The Assembly Rooms are also listed at Grade II*. This is the second-highest grade and indicates "particularly important buildings of more than special interest".

Notes

References

Sources

* * *

External links

* {{Commons category-inline Grade II* listed buildings in Ceredigion Grade II* listed houses in Wales Buildings and structures in Aberystwyth