PUBLIC ARCHITECTURE

George Wilkinson, 1838
Ink and watercolour, 54 x 76 cm
PZ 4419/1

Roof plans are rare in the Library's collections. George Wilkinson's plan show the arrangement of wall-plates, purlins, rafters and other roof members in this small workhouse, other drawings of which include sections and details. His plans for larger workhouses were often cruciform, with a central lantern and master's parlour. Forty-five workhouses had been built in Wales by 1850. In Cardiganshire the Aberaeron Union of parishes was the first to build a workhouse in 1839 to accommode its destitute populace, a function now undertaken in large part by bed and breakfast establishments. Erected by local builder William Green it fulfilled its designated function until the end of the First World War when it became a hospital for injured soldiers and then a cottage hospital.

Wilkinson was an Oxfordshire architect who specialised in workhouses following his success in a competition for the workhouse at Thame in his native county in 1835. About 1840 he moved to Ireland as the chosen architect of the Poor Law Commissioners where he designed several more workhouses, together with other buildings including Dublin's Harcourt Street station, 1858 - 59.

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HOUSE OF CORRECTION, USK

James Maddox, ca. 1810s
Ink and watercolour, 48 x 36 cm, 54 x 75 cm
PB 1558, PB 1559

Presumably a much needed extension to the small 'old building'. The penal function of this nineteenth century House of Correction is manifest by the very solid stone and brick walls and ceilings of the eight cells at the centre of an otherwise rather mundane building with wooden floors and partitions. A new prison at Usk, which still stands, was commissioned in 1839.

James Maddox and his son George Vaughan Maddox were architects and builders in Monmouth. G.V. Maddox's prominent commission was the New Market in Priory Street, opened in 1839. This was part of a major development scheme, for which Maddox was probably also responsible, involving the construction of a new street on arches which considerably enhanced the northern approach to Monmouth.

S.B.D. PLANS FOR SCHOOLS : CASTLE MADOC (BREC.)

?William Williams, ca. 1850
Ink and watercolour, 65 x 48 cm
Gregynog Box Collection (17)

The S.B.D. [School Building Drawings] collection contains building grant plans for schools built between 1860 and 1904 in the counties of Brecon, Cardigan, Denbigh, Montgomery and Radnor. These drawings were deposited with the Board of Education, 1845 - 72, in connection with grants for their construction and alteration. They were transferred to County Record Offices under the Public Records Act, 1958, the above collections subsequently to the National Library.

In Wales elementary education before 1840 was usually provided by Sunday schools and for a small fee by private adventure schools. Numerous government reports during the first half of the century highlighted the deplorable state of education. The two voluntary societies, the National and British societies established at the beginning of the century had little impact in Wales. Their aim was to promote the education of the labouring and manufacturing classes, regardless of their religion. The first government grant to education in 1833 was divided between the two societies and was provided for the erection of schoolhouses. The most significant activity in school building occurred during the second half of the century, especially following the Education Act of 1870 which stipulated that an elementary school should be within range of every child.

ABERERCH INFANTS' SCHOOL

Henry Kennedy, 1875
Ink and watercolour, 39 x 56 and smaller
PD 9683 - 86

Examples from a comprehensive set of designs and specifications for this village school near Pwllheli. The contractors' specifications are detailed and include instructions to the excavator, mason, bricklayer, slater, plasterer, carpenter, ironmonger, plumber, glazier and painter. The drawings are somewhat ordinary and unimaginative which signify that Henry Kennedy was probably working to a restricted budget. The school, however, still survives.

In sparsely villaged rural Wales, especially in parts of the Llyn peninsula, Anglesey and Cardiganshire, the school became the community's focal point.

LLANELLI TOWN HALL. 1ST PREMIATED DESIGN AND SELECTED DESIGN 1892

Simon and Tweedie and William Griffiths, 1882
Printed, 38 x 28 cm, 28 x 39 cm
Birmingham Corporation Collection (171)

The delightfully proportioned neo-Jacobean design by Griffiths places Llanelli Town Hall amongst the very best examples of nineteenth century civic buildings in Wales. A two-storey building with basement, it has a centre clock tower with cupola, brown squared rubble stone with Bath stone dressings and hipped slate roofs behind balustraded parapets.

Unfortunately the varied styles of later nineteenth century public buildings were frequently embodied in disappointing architecture.

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF WALES SELECTED DESIGN

S.K. Greenslade, 1909
Printed, 35 x 28 cm, 38 x 29 cm
Gregynog Box Collection (111)

The National Library was initially and temporarily accommodated in the Old Assembly Rooms in Aberystwyth in 1909. The previous year the Library's Council invited architects accustomed with libraries to submit designs for a new building of 'national character' on a commanding site overlooking the town and Cardigan Bay. Powerful local inducements and a central location in Wales secured the Library's siting in Aberystwyth rather than Cardiff.

The chosen design - an imposing classical one - was by Sidney Greenslade who described his external style as 'purposely flat and severe'. The bottom storey is of Cornish granite whilst those above are of Portland stone. The foundation stone was laid in 1911 and occupation of the building began in 1916.

The building's present plan differs somewhat from Greenslade's original design, particularly in the Central Hall and main stairs, which were added during the 1950s. Several extensions have built since 1916 as necessity demanded and as building grants became available. The spacious Third Library Building was completed and occupied in 1996.

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF WALES

James B. Fulton, 1910
Printed, 28 x 39 cm, 29 x 38 cm
Gregynog Box Collection (111)

The National Museum is a rectangular Portland stone building dominated by a dome above a broad, low octagonal tower, below which is a spacious and well-lighted entrance hall. Nine sculptured groups representing Welsh history are located above the cornice which encompasses the Museum. The approved design by James B. Fulton as published in The Architect was subsequently modified to some extent.

The National Museum was granted its Royal Charter in 1907, as was the National Library, and had its foundation stone laid by King George V in 1912. Building work was suspended during the First World War and did not resume until 1926. It was opened to the public by King George V in 1927. The National Museum and National Library are in effect Wales's first national buildings.

PROPOSED NEW BUILDING, MARINE BUILDING AND CUSTOM HOUSE, PENARTH DOCK

Gary Edmunds, ca. 1985
Ink and felt pen, 36 x 80 cm
PE 5427

The dock infrastructures of Cardiff and Penarth were constructed in large part by the Bute Estate during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century primarily to export South Wales coal. A steady process of industrial decline set in from about 1920, culminating by the 1970s in extensive tracts of bare and derelict land and abandoned docks. Renewal became imperative and dockland redevelopment received high priority in the County structure plan.

The Edmunds proposal is one of many designed to enhance Penarth Dock in a genre characteristic of 1980s marina development. The Renaissance styled Marine Buildings and Custom House date from ca. 1865 and were probably designed by Samuel Dobson who was responsible for Penarth Dock. Both are listed as Grade 2 buildings by Cadw : Welsh Historic Monuments.

In 1987 the Cardiff Bay Development Corporation was established by the Welsh Office to promote a major renewal strategy, the objectives for Penarth Docks being the extension of marina development for housing and leisure with backland and infill sites to the north for industry. Similar, but smaller marina developments have also transformed other former coal, slate and fish docks in Wales such as in Swansea, Port Dinorwic and Milford Haven.