The Glamorgan Building ( cy, Adeilad Morgannwg) is a former county hall located at King Edward VII Avenue in

Cathays Park Cathays Park ( cy, Parc Cathays) or Cardiff Civic Centre is a civic centre area in the city centre of Cardiff, the capital city of Wales, consisting of a number of early 20th century buildings and a central park area, Alexandra Gardens. It i ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. It was the headquarters of Glamorgan County Council from 1912 to 1974 and then of

Mid Glamorgan County Council Mid Glamorgan County Council () was the upper-tier authority for the Welsh county of Mid Glamorgan between its creation in 1974 and its abolition in 1996. History Local government in England and Wales was reorganised in 1974 under the Local Gover ...

from 1974 to 1996. The building, which was acquired by

Cardiff University , latin_name = , image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University , motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord , mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord , established = 1 ...

in 1997 and is now home to the university's School of Social Sciences and the School of Geography and Planning, is a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

History

Design and construction

Following the implementation of the

Local Government Act 1888 Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...

, which established county councils in every county, it became necessary to find a meeting place for Glamorgan County Council. Initially the county council used offices in Westgate Street and St Mary Street. After finding this arrangement inadequate, county leaders decided to procure a purpose-built facility: the site they selected at

was acquired from the

Marquess of Bute Marquess of the County of Bute, shortened in general usage to Marquess of Bute, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1796 for John Stuart, 4th Earl of Bute. Family history John Stuart was the member of a family that ...

in 1898. Construction of the new building started in 1909. It was designed by Vincent Harris and Thomas Anderson Moodie in the Beaux-Arts classical style following a design competition and was built by Turner & Sons of Cardiff at a cost of £67,724. It was officially opened by the Chairman of the County Council, J. Blandy Jenkins, as Glamorgan County Hall on 19 September 1912. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of seven bays facing King Edward VII Avenue; the central section of five bays featured a large portico with a deeply recessed entrance flanked by a series of pared

Corinthian order The Corinthian order ( Greek: Κορινθιακός ρυθμός, Latin: ''Ordo Corinthius'') is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order ...

columns. Internally, the principal room was the council chamber. Serving as reminders of Glamorgan's source of wealth, two groups of statues by

Albert Hodge Albert Hemstock Hodge (17 July 1875 – 31 December 1917 or 27 January 1918McKay, James, ''The Dictionary of Sculptors in Bronze'', Antique Collectors Club, London, 1995) was a Scottish born sculptor. Hodge was born at Port Ellen, on the island ...

, one representing navigation and the other coal mining, were unveiled outside the building. With the

Local Government Act 1929 The Local Government Act 1929 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that made changes to the Poor Law and local government in England and Wales. The Act abolished the system of poor law unions in England and Wales and their board ...

, which transferred more powers to local authorities, a large extension was required. It was built to the south west of the main building to a design by Ivor Jones and

Percy Thomas Sir Percy Edward Thomas OBE (13 September 1883 – 19 August 1969) was an Anglo-Welsh architect who worked in Wales for the majority of his life. He was twice RIBA president (1935–37 and 1943–46). Biography Percy Edward Thomas was born on 1 ...

at a cost of £54,054 and opened on 22 September 1932.

Recent history

Following the implementation of the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

, which broke up Glamorgan County Council and established

, the new county council took over the building. On 1 April 1996, under the

Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 (c. 19) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which amended the Local Government Act 1972 to create the current local government structure in Wales of 22 unitary authority areas, referred to as ...

, Mid Glamorgan County Council was abolished and the building was acquired by

in 1997 and became home to the university's School of Social Sciences and the School of Geography and Planning. The Glamorgan Record Office, which had been based in the building since 1939, relocated to a purpose-built office in Leckwith next to the Cardiff City football stadium as Glamorgan Archives in 2009.

References

External links

*
The Glamorgan Building, School of Geography and Planning, Cardiff University
{{Cardiff University Buildings by Vincent Harris Cardiff University Cathays Park County halls in Wales Grade I listed buildings in Cardiff Government buildings completed in 1912 1912 in Wales