Private residence (1863–20th century Council Area Education Office (20th century–1970s) Wartime nursery (20th century) Hotel (1982–present) Restaurant (2000–present)
It was formerly a private residence, and later a council office, until it was converted into the Abbotsfield Priory Hotel in the 1970s, later adding a restaurant and bar. The building is now The Lemon Tree restaurant, bar and hotel.
Description
The building is located on the corner of Grosvenor Road and Rhosddu Road,[2] It is two storeys,[3]grade II listed,[4] and in the neo-Gothic[5] style. The building is of coursed and squared tooled sandstone, with the roof being made of slate and has scalloped bands and ridge cresting. The building is arranged as a L-plan with its entrance located at the centre, at the angle of the building's wings. The building's entrance contains an asymmetric gabled porch with polished granite shafts to a deep-moulded arch engraved with the text "Trust in God" on a scroll.[3][1]
To the doorway's left is an advanced wing.[3][1] While the interior of the building has largely retained its original layout, with details such as the encaustic-tiled entrance hall, and quatrefoilrossette panelled staircase still surviving.[3][1]
History
The building was designed in the 1860s by local architect James Reynolds Gummow[5] as a private residence for Edward Jones.[2][3][6][7] The building was the first house built on the Rhosddu end of Grosvenor Road,[6] and was constructed and built from 1863[3] to 1865.[5]
During the World Wars, one wing of the building served as the Abbotsfield Priory War Nursery.[5]
The council later sold building in the 1970s to become a hotel in 1982[5] as the Abbotsfield Priory Hotel, a family-run hotel with fourteen bedrooms by 1995.[8] When it became a hotel and a bar in the 1970s and 1980s, various older pieces of other older Wrexham buildings were moved into the building, such as a mahogany bar from the Raglan Arms on Lambpit Street, with the mahogany structure serving as the building's bar.[2][7]
In 2000, the building was converted into Graffiti Italiano,[9] an Italian restaurant. It is now "The Lemon Tree" restaurant, bar and independently owned hotel, with twelve and later 18 bedrooms.[2][5][6][7] The hotel building underwent a complete refurbishment in March 2010, with the name "The Lemon Tree" being added, and was further renovated in 2020–21.[7] In December 2014, the restaurant was taken over by locals Sam Regan and his wife Emma.[10] The restaurant served food they self-described as "modern British".[11]
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