There are some properties that are truly a one-off – buildings that stop you in your tracks when you are ambling down the road. Their very presence on the streetscene is likely to make you stop and gawp and surely make you eager to have a peek inside.
This tall, thin, green building at the end of a characterful central street in the historic town of Caernarfon, nestled next to the ancient town wall, is one such building. Its very shape and style means it could be transported into Harry Potter's Diagon Alley or become part of a period property backdrop in a Charles Dickens TV drama.
But it can also offer a unique experience inside as well as outside because once through the door the labyrinth of rooms, staircases, and nooks and crannies combine to ensure that distinctive charm suggested from the street continues throughout the property.
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The skinny building can also claim to be appropriate for another TV classic – Doctor Who – as it sprawls across five floors to surely arrive at the title of a 'Tardis' property. Yes, somehow and somewhere, this end of terrace property is hiding five storeys.
The most obvious of the levels to investigate first is the ground floor as it is currently configured as a shop and within its time of trading offered a retail experience befitting the property's charm – a jewellery shop that includes hats and accessories that then morphs into a book shop as it flows under an archway into a rear room.
At the back of the retail space, in the corner, can be found two sets of stairs. The first set descends into darkness – it's the basement. But don't worry about deadly and dastardly villains like Voldemort or Vecna hiding down here to grab you as this area is an extension of the book shop that also includes a staff kitchen area so the closest you will get to such evil is just reading about them.
Linger by the surprise addition of a window and you are reminded of your subterranean existence down here by looking out onto a metal grille at street level that shows an ominous prison-like view. But there is plenty more to see in this eccentric building that is bathed in light and also potential.
Back up the stairs and into the main retail zone and at the very back is another set of stairs and this gets you to the living accommodation above. The three-storey home above the shop also has its own front door found by turning the corner off the main street outside and into the even more Harry Potter-style side lane that has the fabulous name of Hole in the Wall Street.
The middle floor of this truly unique home greets you with a kitchen area at the top of this section of the winding, creaky stairs with a sink that looks out over the stone town wall and centuries of history. The kitchen zone is at the back of this open-plan space with the living room occupying the front, which has two large windows and a fireplace meaning the space is bathed in character as well as light.
It's a skinny space, as the house tells you it will be from its shape and size when you look at it from the street, but the property is quite deep so there's probably more space here than most visitors might be expecting as – it's certainly bigger than some Cardiff city centre flats. With some clever storage and well-known space saving and light sharing interior design ideas the space could look and feel even bigger.
Any work you might decide to do here is accompanied by the delightful view of the town's meandering and historic lanes next to the town wall out of the main window. But any thoughts of doing work also comes with a warning – the property is listed so you need to seek out the local conservation officer before lifting a hammer or planning a remodel.
The shop and home is a slice of Caernarfon's property history and was awarded a Grade II listing by Cadw in 1968, amended in 2002, for 'an especially good and well-preserved example of the eclectic classicism so characteristic of Victorian Caernarfon, and for its contribution to the historic integrity of the walled town'. It is thought to date back to around 1880, that being the first time it was seen on an Ordnance Survey map, and in 1895 it was used as a temperance house that just adds to this wonderful building's curious and unique history as well as design.
Back to the present day and the large living room window has some fancy detailing you might have missed from the outside due to the eagerness to enter the property and explore. Above the window is a stone-carved cornice and pointed pediment, added to the window on the next floor above too, that gives the building the essence of Grecian style to its historic façade, which also includes two Greek Doric columns either side of the shop window and door.
The living room's window, the bigger of the two, also has a wrought iron mini external balcony featuring a late 19th-century art nouveau design at the base of the window. It's, of course, not big enough for people but it is willing to accommodate some pots of flowers to brighten the façade of the house even more than the green paint and shop front window already does.
Up those winding stairs again and the next floor offers a bedroom with a feature fireplace as well as an en suite cloakroom before the stairs get you to the top of the building and up in the converted loft is another bedroom. The curious skinny home at the end of this charming period Gwynedd street is for sale for £140,000 and to find out more including the rental space and potential contact Dafydd Hardy at their Caernarfon branch on 01286 677774. And don't miss the best dream homes in Wales, renovation stories and interiors, join the Amazing Welsh Homes newsletter, sent to your inbox twice a week.
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