Building Name

Proprietary Schools, Dumfries Place, Cardiff

Date
1875
Street
Dumfries Place
District/Town
Cardiff
County/Country
Wales
Work
New build
Contractor
Samuel Shepton of Cardiff

Few towns in the United Kingdom have so rapidly increased in population and commercial importance as Cardiff, and yet hitherto no provision has been made to meet the educational wants of the town and neighbourhood. Cardiff possesses neither a grammar school nor a public school of any kind, and to supply this defect a company has been recently formed under the Limited Liability Acts in order to erect a school to accommodate at least 300 boys, in accordance with the design we now publish, which was selected in a competition. Lord Aberdare, in laying the memorial-stone on July 7th, 1875, stated, " That it was the memorial of a great work, not done by the endowment of dead men, out of wealth that they could no longer enjoy, but by the living energy and daily sacrifice of the citizens of Cardiff, and he hoped that these buildings would be the means of supporting in a flourishing condition an institution from which will issue scholars who shall be a credit to their families, an honour to the town of Cardiff, and a source of usefulness and strength to our common country." The object of the school is to supply a thorough classical and commercial education at a moderate cost to the sons of gentlemen, professional men, merchants, and others of the middle classes. At present, parents desirous of giving their sons a superior education are obliged to send them to a distance at a considerable expense. The urgent need there is of such an institution in Cardiff affords every reasonable guarantee of its ultimate success. The building is to be erected in Dumfries-place, of Newbridge stone, with Bath stone dressings, and is arranged so that the site will admit of a new wing on the south side of entrance, corresponding with that now being erected on the north. The position of the building, which will then form the centre, is marked by a projecting porch on open arches, above which a bay window rises for two stories, the whole being finished by a clock-turret. Behind the porch are vestibule and staircase, private rooms for master and secretary, council chamber and library, with bedrooms for house- keeper and servants over; while the kitchen and other offices are in the basement. From the hall a corridor 6ft. wide gives access to the large school- room 56ft. by 43ft., this room will have an open timbered roof, stained and varnished; the windows are arranged in two stories, to allow of a small gallery being placed at one end, the floor of the Oriel window at the other end being intended to accommodate a lecturer's desk. Opening from the corridor are first the students' common room, 32ft.6 in. by 24ft., and two classrooms, 24ft. by 16ft., over which, on the chamber floor, are four other classrooms, approached from a similar corridor. The hall and lower corridor are intended to be covered by the Manchester Limmer Asphalte Co. with fire-proof concrete, arching the surface laid with spar, and polished with a border of black asphalte all round. The heating apparatus will be supplied by Messrs. Haden & Co., and the ventilation of both school and classrooms has been carefully considered. Messrs. Macfarlane & Co., Glasgow, will supply the ironwork; the contractor is Mr. Samuel Shepton, of Cardiff; the clerk of works Mr. H. J. Elmes; and the whole work will be carried out from the design and under the superintendence of Mr. Alfred Armstrong, architect, of Manchester.  [British Architect 27 August 1875 page 117]

British Architect 27 August 1875 page 117 and illustration