Investor plans to bring Plas Gwynfryn mansion back to life
A HISTORIC mansion left in ruins is set to be brought back to life – 40 years after it was devastated in a fire.
Plas Gwynfryn mansion was built in 1876 by Sir Hugh Ellis-Nanney, who inherited the estate from his father. The Eton and Oxford graduate decided to demolish the old buildings there on his 21st birthday to build the ultimate bachelor pad.
Architect George Williams designed the fashionable fairytale property – complete with castle-style turrets and narrow-arched windows.
Politician Ellis-Nanney, who later lost his constituency seat when he was defeated by future Prime Minister David Lloyd George in 1880, paid a huge £70,000 for the build.
He lived out his days with his wife at Plas Gwynfryn, at Llanystumdwy, near Criccieth, Gwynedd, before he died in 1925. The Grade II-listed building became a wartime hospital, an orphanage and finally a hotel. It was gutted by a fire in 1982 and has been sitting empty since – until it went on the market in 2018 for just £500,000.
Property investor David Taylor, of Lancashire-based DM Property
Group, has now submitted plans for the site in the hope of bringing it back to life. He hopes to develop the mansion into 22 one or two-bedroom flats and build a 25-unit rear extension.
A planning statement said: “This is a rare opportunity to bring an historic building back to its former splendour, this will require a large investment and the skills of experienced craftspersons to enable this to happen.
“After restoration there would be potential for the site to be used for wedding venues subject to planning approval.”
In pre-application advice, Gwynedd council said the applicant must consider whether “an economic use of the site is viable first” and whether it was safe to go ahead with the conversion plans.
The council said: “The authority is aware, however, of the precarious condition of the building, which is also included on the buildings at risk register, and therefore every effort should be made to find a use for the building.”
Council planning chiefs and heritage body Cadw will now consider the plans.