The Colwyn Bay Civic Society publishes its newsletter twice a year, in full colour, A4 format. It is edited by Graham Roberts. This article is repurposed from the April 2004 edition.

One of the most outstanding houses in north Wales was built 96 years ago. Cotswold, on Colwyn Bay's Brackley Avenue, was designed by Alfred Steinthal of Manchester. It is grand and solid-looking, Arts and Crafts picturesque and perfect. The house is roughcast and gabled, with half-timbering on the outside with richly ornamental barge boards; inside there is a spacious hall and wide staircase.

The house was built for Mr and Mrs Benger, of Benger Baby Food fame. Mr Benger was a keen organist and installed an Aeolian Pipe Organ with a music roll player in the console. In the roof was a twelve-seat cinema. The roof itself was covered with Cotswold tiles. Unfortunately these slates came from the base of the quarry, where ice and water had formed static pools of moisture. These eventually began to crumble and flake. The architect Sidney Colwyn Ffoulkes bought the house in 1952. He had designed tiles for houses on Elwy Road; they were also used on Colwyn Bay's civic centre. Ralph Colwyn Ffoulkes, his son, replaced the originals with these Colwyn tiles, which were manufactured by Marley.

White House, Pwllycochan Avenue

The White House was built in the grounds for the Benger's daughter and son in law, Mr and Mrs Taylor. This, and the similar White Oak, Kings Road, built for the second daughter and her husband, were also designed by Steinthal. The Taylors subsequently occupied Cotswold, and were succeeded in their turn by Pat Collins, the fairground owner. Collins gave the organ to St Joseph's RC Church; it eventually passed to a museum in Brentford.

The Japanese Garden In the early 1920s the Taylors visited Japan. Mr Taylor brought back plans for a Japanese garden and hundreds of plants and ferns. The garden was laid out at Cotswold, using stone from Llysfaen – a lovely, knobby flat-topped stone with plenty of character. The garden was much admired by Frank Lloyd Wright, who visited Cotswold from America in the late 1950s. Wright had a lifelong sympathy for Japanese culture, had written a book about Japanese prints, and had designed the Imperial Hotel, Tokyo (1914). As Ralph Colwyn Ffoulkes and his father took him through the garden they were conducting a convert through a world he loved.

Fortunately these houses and the splendid and unique Japanese garden survive to bring distinction to Colwyn Bay.

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