Hafod was built in 1935 and was designed by the outstanding Arts and Crafts architect, Herbert Luck North (1871-1941), who lived and worked in Llanfairfechan from c.1901. It was formerly called Arsyllfa and was possibly built for a Mrs Ashcroft.

It has a 'Y' shaped plan, its angled wings stretching westwards to the afternoon sun and the garden, recalling the butterfly plan popular amongst Arts and Crafts architects earlier in the century. North designed two other butterfly-plan houses, in Devon and in the Lake District, and his own house (Wern Isaf) in Llanfairfechan is a sort of reverse butterfly plan.

The construction and materials are typical of North's buildings: white, roughcast walls, roofs of graded Welsh slates, small-paned windows and canted rainwater pipes. Not so typical here are the hipped roofs as North tended to use plain gables with verges.

The house has been altered internally, though a few original features survive. Externally, dormers and a conservatory have been added, and the stem of the Y-plan was extended in the 1970s, and again later.

Adam Voelcker, 25 October 2010.