Edwardian Baroque architecture
Edwardian Baroque is the Neo-Baroque architectural style of many public buildings built in the British Empire during the Edwardian era. The characteristic features of the Edwardian Baroque style were drawn from two main sources: the architecture of France during the 18th century and that of Sir Christopher Wren in England during the 17th—part of the English Baroque. Sir Edwin Lutyens was a major exponent, designing many commercial buildings in what he termed'the Grand Style' during the 1910s and 1920s; this period of British architectural history is considered a retrospective one, since it is contemporary with Art Nouveau. Typical details of Edwardian Baroque architecture include extensive rustication more extreme at ground level running into and exaggerating the voussoirs of arched openings; some Edwardian Baroque buildings include details from other sources, such as the Dutch gables of Norman Shaw's Piccadilly Hotel in London. United KingdomAdmiralty Arch, London Albert Hall, Manchester Albert Hall, Nottingham Ashton Memorial, Lancaster Asia House, Manchester Australia House, London Belfast City Hall, Belfast Bridgewater House, Manchester Cardiff City Hall, Cardiff Central Criminal Court, London County Hall, London Electric Cinema, London Hanover Building, Manchester Hove Library, Hove India House, Manchester Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne Lancaster House, Manchester London Road Fire and Police Station, Manchester Lloyds Bank on King Street, Manchester by Charles Heathcote Manchester Victoria station, Manchester Marylebone station, London.
Midland Bank head office building, London by Edwin Lutyens Mitchell Library, William B Whitie Municipal Technical Institute, a.k.a. Blackman Tech, Belfast Nottingham railway station, Nottingham 163 North Street, Brighton Ralli Hall, Hove South Shields Town Hall, South Shields St. James Buildings, Manchester Stockport Town Hall, Stockport War Office, London Westminster Central Hall, London Argentina1914: Thompson Muebles Ltd, Buenos Aires 1914: Harrods - Bs. As. Ltd, Buenos Aires 1915: Retiro Mitre railway station, Buenos AiresAustraliaLands Administration Building, Brisbane Queen Victoria Hospital, Melbourne Commonwealth Offices, Treasury Place, Melbourne Central railway station, Sydney Department of Education building, Sydney General Post Office, HobartCanadaPost Office, VancouverSri LankaRoyal College, ColomboHong KongOhel Leah SynagogueIndiaRipon Building, Chennai Chowringhee Mansions, Calcutta Rashtrapati Bhavan, New DelhiMalaysiaCity Hall, George Town, Penang Second floor extension to Town Hall, George Town, Penang Former Government Offices, George Town, Penang Federated Malay States railway station/Malayan Railways building, George Town, Penang George Town Dispensary, George Town, Penang Ipoh Town Hall and former General Post Office, Perak Railway station in Ipoh, Perak Former State Secretariat, Negeri Sembilan New ZealandAuckland Town Hall, New Zealand General Post Office, New Zealand Auckland Ferry Terminal Old Public Trust Building, Wellington SingaporeVictoria Memorial Hall Central Fire Station Saint Joseph's Institution Edwardian architecture Edwardian Baroque Carnegie Libraries in Glasgow, Scotland
Cardiff Town Hall
Cardiff Town Hall was the name given to four buildings which successively served as the centre of local government in Cardiff, the capital of Wales between the Middle Ages and Cardiff's elevation from town to city status in 1905. Upon the rise to the title city, the fourth and last town hall was replaced by Cardiff City Hall in 1906. None of the old town halls survive. In the early days of Cardiff's existence, the local government would have been centred in Cardiff Castle, but as the settlement expanded, it was necessary to have purpose-built premises and Cardiff's first gild hall was subsequently built. Little is known of this structure, in use until the fourteenth century; the gild hall was replaced by the second town hall in the 1330s. This structure, sometimes called the town house, was built on land allocated by a charter of 1331, was located in the centre of what is now St Mary Street, a site that Cardiff's town hall would occupy for the next 500 years. One of the crossroads at the town hall led down to the quay on what is now Westgate Street, another leading to St John's Church.
The first meeting of the Cardiff Corporation in the building was held in 1338. Outside the town hall stood water pumps and the local stocks, which were present until the 19th Century. Near the town hall stood a building, believed to have been the vicarage for the old St Mary's Church; the martyr Rawlins White was commemorated by a plaque at the old town hall, but this was lost when the building was demolished in the 1740s. The medieval town hall was in use for the next 403 years. By the 1730s, the building was dilapidated and was proving inadequate for the growing town. In addition, its location in the centre of the street was unpopular because it posed an obstruction to traffic. In 1741, the town authorities conducted a feasibility study which concluded that it would be simpler and more economically viable to replace the building rather than to repair it. In spite of the previous hall's inconvenient location, the council built the third town hall in the same location as its predecessor; this was done in spite of widespread public opposition, which increased when the council asked the town's wealthier residents to contribute financially.
Owing to the unpopularity of the project, the materialisation of the requested money was far from prompt, the building was not completed until 1747. The new structure was similar in design to the previous town hall: the lower floor housed the town gaol and held a market; the southern end of the building had a shop and an inn called the Shoulder of Mutton. The upper floor, accessed by a flight of steps flanked by railings, held the assembly rooms. After the gaol moved to a separate location, the space was occupied by the town fire brigade. John Wesley preached at the town hall in August 1788 on his last visit to the borough; the Georgian building was never popular with the townspeople, by the 1790s, there were complaints that it was inconvenient and was falling into a poor condition. After the death of John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute in 1848, a statue of him was erected outside the town hall. By the 1850s, Cardiff was expanding, it was felt that the Georgian town hall needed to be replaced, a new town hall was opened in 1853.
After its replacement, the old town hall continued to be used for council meetings and other entertainments until it was sold at the end of the 1850s. It was demolished in 1861. After demolition, the statue of the Marquess of Bute was moved to the southern end of St Mary Street, where it still stands; the new town hall, designed in a Palladian style by Horace Jones, came into use in 1853. Jones designed Tower Bridge in London. On this occasion, the new town hall was not built in the centre of the thoroughfare, but on the western side of St Mary's Street, opposite the Cardiff Market; the building had been estimated to cost £10,000 but the final cost was at least £13,000. This expensive structure housed police station, fire brigade and post office. At the time of construction, it was one of Cardiff's most impressive buildings, was confidently predicted to last in use for many years, but was unable to meet the ever-growing needs of the expanding metropolis; the building was expanded in 1880, the post office moved to a separate building in 1886 to ease capacity, but in 1890, it was again decided that the building was inadequate for the growing town whose population had soared to 129,000.
Despite the resolution, the building continued in use until the early 1900s. In 1905, when Cardiff was made a city, the accolade was accepted in the town hall; the new city hall was still under construction at this date — it never held the name town hall. Functions were transferred to there on its completion in 1906. After this, the redundant town hall like its predecessors, began to deteriorate. By the 1910s, only the fire brigade was present in the building, demolished in 1914. Today, little remains of the former town halls; the Medieval and Georgian halls are commemorated by a blue plaque, the section of the roadway, wider than the rest of the street can still be seen. A blue plaque also
Llywelyn ap Gruffudd
Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, sometimes written as Llywelyn ap Gruffydd known as Llywelyn the Last or Llywelyn Yr Ail, was Prince of Wales from 1258 until his death at Cilmeri in 1282. The son of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn Fawr and grandson of Llywelyn the Great, he was the last sovereign prince of Wales before its conquest by Edward I of England. Llywelyn was the second of the four sons of Gruffudd, the eldest son of Llywelyn the Great, Senana ferch Caradog, the daughter of Caradoc ap Thomas ap Rhodri, Lord of Anglesey; the eldest was Owain Goch ap Gruffudd and Llywelyn had two younger brothers, Dafydd ap Gruffudd and Rhodri ap Gruffudd. Llywelyn is thought to have been born around 1222 or 1223, he is first heard of holding lands in the Vale of Clwyd around 1244. Following his grandfather's death in 1240, Llywelyn's uncle, Dafydd ap Llywelyn, succeeded him as ruler of Gwynedd. Llywelyn's father and his brother, were kept prisoner by Dafydd transferred into the custody of King Henry III of England. Gruffudd died in 1244, from a fall while trying to escape from his cell at the top of the Tower of London.
The window from which he attempted to escape the Tower was bricked up and can still be seen to this day. This freed Dafydd ap Llywelyn's hand as King Henry could no longer use Gruffudd against him, war broke out between him and King Henry in 1245. Llywelyn supported his uncle in the savage fighting. Owain, was freed by Henry after his father's death in the hope that he would start a civil war in Gwynedd, but stayed in Chester, so when Dafydd died in February 1246 without leaving an heir, Llywelyn had the advantage of being on the spot. Llywelyn and Owain came to terms with King Henry and in 1247, signed the Treaty of Woodstock at Woodstock Palace; the terms they were forced to accept restricted them to Gwynedd Uwch Conwy, the part of Gwynedd west of the River Conwy, divided between them. Gwynedd Is Conwy, east of the river, was taken over by King Henry; when Dafydd ap Gruffudd came of age, King Henry accepted his homage and announced his intention to give him part of the reduced Gwynedd. Llywelyn refused to accept this, Owain and Dafydd formed an alliance against him.
This led to the Battle of Bryn Derwin in June 1255. Llywelyn defeated Owain and Dafydd and captured them, thereby becoming sole ruler of Gwynedd Uwch Conwy. Llywelyn now looked to expand his area of control; the population of Gwynedd Is Conwy resented English rule. This area known as "Perfeddwlad" had been given by King Henry to his son Edward and during the summer of 1256, he visited the area, but failed to deal with grievances against the rule of his officers. An appeal was made to Llywelyn, that November, crossed the River Conwy with an army, accompanied by his brother, whom he had released from prison. By early December, Llywelyn controlled all of Gwynedd Is Conwy apart from the royal castles at Dyserth and Dnoredudd as a reward for his support and dispossessing his brother-in-law, Rhys Fychan, who supported the king. An English army led by Stephen Bauzan invaded to try to restore Rhys Fychan but was decisively defeated by Welsh forces at the Battle of Cadfan in June 1257, with Rhys having slipped away to make his peace with Llywelyn.
Rhys Fychan now accepted Llywelyn as overlord, but this caused problems for Llywelyn, as Rhys's lands had been given to Maredudd. Llywelyn restored his lands to Rhys, but the king's envoys approached Maredudd and offered him Rhys's lands if he would change sides. Maredudd paid homage to Henry in late 1257. By early 1258, Llywelyn was using the title Prince of Wales, first used in an agreement between Llywelyn and his supporters and the Scottish nobility associated with the Comyn family; the English Crown refused to recognise this title however, in 1263, Llywelyn's brother, went over to King Henry. On 12 December 1263 in the commote of Ystumanner, Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn did homage and swore fealty to Llywelyn. In return he was made a vassal lord and the lands taken from him by Llywelyn about six years earlier were restored to him. In England, Simon de Montfort defeated the king's supporters at the Battle of Lewes in 1264, capturing the king and Prince Edward. Llywelyn began negotiations with de Montfort, in 1265, offered him 30,000 marks in exchange for a permanent peace, in which Llywelyn's right to rule Wales would be acknowledged.
The Treaty of Pipton, 22 June 1265, established an alliance between Llywelyn and de Montfort, but the favourable terms given to Llywelyn in this treaty were an indication of de Montfort's weakening position. De Montfort was to die at the Battle of Evesham in a battle in which Llywelyn took no part. After Simon de Montfort's death, Llywelyn launched a campaign in order to gain a bargaining position before King Henry had recovered. In 1265, Llywelyn captured Hawarden Castle and routed the combined armies of Hamo Lestrange and Maurice fitz Gerald in north Wales. Llywelyn moved on to Brycheiniog, in 1266, he routed Roger Mortimer's army. With these victories and the backing of the papal legate, Llywelyn opened negotiations with the king, was recognised as Prince of Wales by King Henry in the Treaty of Montgomery in 1267. In return for the title, the retention of the lands he had conquered and the homage of all the native rulers of Wales, he was to pay a tribute of 25,000 marks in yearly instalments of 3,000 marks, could if he wished, purchase the homage of the one outstandin
Henry Vaughan Lanchester
Henry Vaughan Lanchester was a British architect working in London. He served as editor of The Builder, was a co-founder of the Town Planning Institute and a recipient of the Royal Gold Medal. Lanchester was born in London, his father, Henry Jones Lanchester, was an established architect, his younger brother, Frederick W. Lanchester, was to become an engineer, he was articled to his father, but worked in the offices of London architects F. J. Eadle, T. W. Cutler and George Sherrin from 1884-1894, he studied at the Royal Academy in 1886, won the Aldwinckle Prize and, in 1889, the Owen Jones Studentship. His first architectural work was Kingswood House, Sydenham, in 1892, he established his own practice in 1894, his first independent work in 1896 were offices in Old Street, for Messrs Bovril Ltd. He formed a partnership in 1896 with Edwin Alfred Rickards; as Lanchester and Rickards, in 1897 the firm won the competition to build Cardiff City Hall. Lanchester was editor of The Builder from 1910-12. In 1912, he visited India and prepared a report on the planning of New Delhi as well as preparing plans for Madras.
In 1914 he was one of the founder members of the Town Planning Institute in London. He formed a new partnership in 1923, Lucas & Lodge, with Thomas Geoffry Lucas and Thomas Arthur Lodge, he was appointed Professor of Architecture at University College London, in 1934 Lanchester was awarded the Royal Gold Medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Cardiff City Hall Cardiff Law Courts The Town Hall Deptford, London Methodist Central Hall, Westminster Third Church of Christ Scientist, Curzon Street, Westminster tower The Post Office Lucknow Housing schemes in Portsmouth & Weybridge Council Building for the United Provinces, Lucknow Planned new suburbs in Rangoon Planned new suburbs in Zanzibar Harrogate Hospital Hospital Cairo Parkinson Building, Leeds University Umaid Bhawan Palace, India Town Planning in Madras Zanzibar a Study in Tropical Town Planning Fischer von Erlach Talks on Town Planning The Art of Town Planning Outline of Studies in Town Planning Page 232 Edwardian Architecture: A Biographical Dictionary, A.
Stuart Gray 2nd Edition 1988 Page 9, Directory of British Architects 1834-1914 Volume 2: L-Z, Antonia Brodie, Alison Felstead, Jonathan Franklin, Leslie Pinfield and Jane Oldfield, 2001 Continuum Chapter IX H. V. Lanchester, Representative British Architects of the Present Day, C. H. Reilly, 1931 B. T. Batsford Ltd
Western Mail (Wales)
The Western Mail is a daily newspaper published by Media Wales Ltd in Cardiff, Wales owned by the UK's largest newspaper company, Trinity Mirror. The Sunday edition of the newspaper is published under the title Wales on Sunday, it describes itself as "the national newspaper of Wales", although it has a limited circulation in north Wales. The paper was published in broadsheet format until 2004, it has an average circulation of 13,419 down from over 40,000 in 2007. The Western Mail was founded in Cardiff in 1869 by John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute as a Conservative penny daily paper designed to promote the Marquess' political aspirations. Henry Lascelles Carr, editor since 1869, bought the paper with Daniel Owen in 1877. Under Carr, William Davies, the paper became influential in Wales. In South Wales the Western Mail has always been associated with its original owners, the coal and iron industrialists; this led to the paper being regarded with a considerable degree of enmity during the strikes in the coal industry of the 20th century.
This association between newspaper and its owner was so strong there is still a degree of distrust of the paper in South Wales. In contrast, following devolution, the newspaper has adopted a populist, pro-Wales stance in trying to find a Welsh focus on major news stories; the newspaper has stressed the community issues such as the closure of Welsh schools. The newspaper devotes a great deal of its coverage to Welsh rugby; the paper has varied the amount of space given over to Welsh language coverage, but at least two full pages of Welsh are provided in the Saturday supplement. In the 1950s Donald Woods, who participated in the South African anti-apartheid movement and who publicised the events surrounding the secret death of activist Steve Biko, was employed as a reporter. Gareth Jones List of newspapers in Wales Website of the Western Mail and South Wales Echo
County Hall, Cardiff
The County Hall is the head office of Cardiff Council, located beside the disused Bute East Dock in the Atlantic Wharf area of Butetown, Cardiff. The building was designed by J. R. C. Bethell, the County Architect for South Glamorgan, built 1986–87; this was at a time when the surrounding area consisted of post-industrial dereliction. Hence the construction of the new building has been described in Buildings of Wales: Glamorgan as a "remarkable gesture of faith the South Glamorgan County Council", it is seen as representative of a new form of civic building that does not dominate its surroundings by its size, or formal language, to the extent that it could "even a deliberate abregation of the arrogant assertiveness of the late C19, expressed across the water". County Hall was opened by the Right Honourable Lord Callaghan of Cardiff KG, in October 1988; the building is three storeys in height, but rises to four and five storeys in places. The distinctive shallow pitch roofs are of black slate. In plan the building is formed around a central courtyard.
County Hall is the main headquarters of Cardiff Council. It is home to many of the Council's departments; the accommodation includes the main Council Chamber and several committee rooms. The Cardiff Council Camera Control Room is located at County Hall, where operators use CCTV to monitor locations across the city in an attempt to stop fly-tipping and other criminal activity. County Hall is marketed as a venue for conferences and other events, it boasts an in-house catering team, a large bar for refreshments and function suites to accommodate up to 300 people. In September 2007, former Council chief executive Byron Davies unveiled plans aimed at massive efficiency improvements and bringing in additional funding, which could include selling County Hall, the Cardiff Heliport and up to 40% of Cardiff Bus; as at the end of 2009 no specific proposals to implement these ideas had been brought forward by the Council. In 2013 the sale and demolition of County Hall was again raised, as part of Cardiff Council's plans to reduce their property commitments.
It was suggested an indoor convention centre could be built on the site. Cardiff County Council Cardiff County Hall website
D. A. Thomas
David Alfred Thomas, 1st Viscount Rhondda, PC was a Welsh industrialist and Liberal politician. He was UK Member of Parliament for Merthyr Tydfil from 1888 until the January 1910 general election MP for Cardiff until the December 1910 general election, when he left politics to concentrate on his business interests, he was made a member of the Privy Council in 1916. He held office, notably as "Food Controller" in Lloyd George's wartime coalition government; the son of coal owner Samuel Thomas of Ysguborwen, David Thomas was a second-generation industrialist. His energy and flair for innovation swiftly led him to build a commercial empire larger than his father's. Samuel, a man not noted for a cheerful temperament, is said to have remarked on the day of his son's birth, "Well, I see nothing for him but the workhouse."Although tradition cited D. A. Thomas' birthplace as being an old white-walled cottage in Aberdare, this is unlikely, given that the family home, was completed in 1855; this house was built as a suitable residence for a rising industrial entrepreneur, sets Samuel Thomas' gloomy remark in context.
Samuel Thomas was one of the pioneers of the Welsh Coal business. Samuel Thomas was a hard man the secret of his business success, his tastes were simple, he could never forget the hardships through which he had had to pass, as the above quotation indicates, he was unable to shake off the fear of failure. A Welsh Baptist, he managed his household according to the "Protestant work ethic"; this seems to have been its own reward, for Samuel attained civic office as High Constable of Merthyr the roughest town in Wales. D. A. Thomas' mother, Rachel, is described as a contrast to the sometimes miserly, always prudent Samuel, she gave young David the love that he needed, nurturing the more sensitive side that D. A. Thomas' daughter, was to cherish; the family home, seems to have been a typical Welsh home. At first, only the Welsh language was spoken there. After all, it was the language of both of David's parents. However, Mrs. Thomas, like many Welsh parents before and since, realising that the language of the business world was English, engaged an English nurse to get her children used to speaking English.
In 1859, the family moved from Calfaria Welsh Baptist Chapel to Carmel, the English Baptist Chapel opposite. English was becoming the language of the valleys, the language of respectability. Accordingly, the upwardly mobile Thomases were going to be Anglo-Welsh. D. A. Thomas' upbringing was Victorian, teaching him discipline, mediated through love; that discipline remained in business and in politics. Towards the end of Thomas' life, William Brace, the Trade Union leader commented that'Rhondda has the income of a Duke and the tastes of a Peasant.'Thomas was educated at Manila Hall, Bristol, before going up to Cambridge University Initially, Thomas was to have gone to Jesus College on a scholarship intended for the sons of Anglican Ministers. Since Samuel Thomas was neither an Anglican nor a minister, it would be interesting to know how D. A. Thomas obtained such a scholarship. An attack of Typhoid fever, contracted in Clermont-Ferrand meant that Thomas was unable to take up the scholarship; as it was, Thomas obtained a scholarship to Gonville and Caius College, where he studied mathematics, would have finished top of his year, if it had not been for his indifferent health.
So, Thomas was in the University Rowing and Boxing teams. Thomas left Cambridge in 1880, on the death of his father. In an age of religion, D. A. Thomas was that rarity, a man uninterested in religion; that said, Thomas does not appear to have been an atheist, but to have found the religious sectarianism that marked the life of Wales at that time distasteful. Although brought up a Baptist, he was received into the Anglican Church upon his marriage to Sybil Margaret Haig in 1882 and was baptised at St. Andrew's Church, near Barry; the wedding took place in a billiard-room at her parents' house. A daughter, was born in 1883, the only issue to the couple. Thomas' estrangement from organised religion is due to the religious controversies of the day, or the way in which his father managed to alienate himself altogether from organised religion. After moving to Carmel English Baptist Church, Samuel Thomas appears to have become embroiled in an argument with Rev. Thomas Price, the second minister; this appears to have been over no more than personalities, for Samuel had supported the man's predecessor, the move to Tabernacle English Congregational church ended when the minister was replaced.
Samuel Thomas took it upon himself to un-church his conduct worship at home. Such rancour cannot have endeared organised religion to the young David. Grigg describes Thomas' upbringing as'Strict Congregationalist, yet D. A. Thomas was not baptised as an infant, suggesting that Samuel Thomas never abandoned his Baptist views; as a schoolboy at Bristol D. A. Thomas attended Highbury Congregational Chapel, where his uncle, David Thomas, was minister. Although D. A. Thomas was involved in the Disestablishment controversy and was an advocate of Disestablishment, this appears to have sprung from the belief that the endowments of the church should be used for the general good He advocated the allocation of church endowments on a population basis, which alienated many of the North Wales MPs; the Rev. J. Vyrnwy Morgan, Thomas' earliest biographer writes that:'...religion was a subject concerning which he spoke less than he thought.'Despite attacks of rheumatic fever, which plagued him for much of his life, D. A. Thomas was n
