Glamorgan Building
| Glamorgan Building | |
|
Glamorgan | |
|---|---|
| |
| Type: | County hall |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | ST18057699 |
| Location: | 51°29’9"N, 3°10’53"W |
| City: | Cardiff |
| History | |
| Built 1912; extension 1932 | |
| For: | Glamorgan County Council by Thomas A. Moodie E. Vincent Harris |
| County hall | |
| Beaux-Arts | |
| Information | |
| Condition: | Converted to university use |
| Owned by: | Cardiff University |
The Glamorgan Building is a grand Edwardian building standing in the civic centre in Cathays Park, on King Edward VII Avenue in Cardiff, Glamorgan. Built in 1912 to serve as the headquarters of Glamorgan County Council, the building was acquired by Cardiff University in 1997 and is now home to the university's School of Social Sciences and the School of Planning and Geography.
Design, construction and history
At the opening of the twentieth century, Glamorgan County Council determined to build a new home for itself and held a design competition in 1909, which was won by Vincent Harris OBE (1876–1971) and Thomas Anderson Moodie (1874–1948).[1] the original building was completed in 1911 and opened in 1912. Outside the building, serving as reminders of Glamorgan's source of wealth, are two groups of statues by Albert Hodge (1875–1918), one representing navigation and the other coal mining.[2]
Due to the Local Government Act 1929, which transferred more powers to local authorities, a large extension was built to the rear of the University of Wales Registry to a design by Ivor Jones and Percy Thomas. This opened in 1932.[3]
The building housed Glamorgan County Council until 1974 and Mid Glamorgan County Council from 1974 to 1996, and houses the former Council Chamber and Committee Rooms. It was also home to the Glamorgan Record Office from 1939 until the end of 2009, when it relocated to a new, purpose-built office in Leckwith next to the Cardiff City football stadium, becoming Glamorgan Archives.
Between 1974 and 1996, Cardiff was additionally the administrative headquarters for South Glamorgan County Council, but this authority had its own purpose-built 'county hall' in Atlantic Wharf on Cardiff Bay, built in 1986/7.
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Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Glamorgan Building) |
References
- ↑ Thomas Anderson Moodie, Dictionary of Scottish Architects]
- ↑ Albert H. Hodge (1875–1918) - Bob Speel
- ↑ Chappell, Edgar L.: ‘Cardiff's Civic Centre: A historical guide’ (Priory Press, 1946), pp. 41