Cardiff: the building of a capital

The Mansion House?

Have you ever noticed the Mansion House in Cardiff?

This large house on Richmond Road is used by the Mayor of Cardiff as an official residence.
But there is something unusual about it.

Look at this picture of the Mansion House.

1.	What do you notice about the door?
2.	Can you explain it?

This house was built in 1896 for a man called James Howell.

3.

Does this house tell you anything about Mr Howell?

Now look at these extracts from the 1891 census.
In 1891 James Howell and his family are living at a different address, 21 The Walk.

Name	Relation to head of household	Occupation
James Howell	Head	Draper
Fanny	Wife
Thomas	Son	Barrister Solicitor
Minnie	Daughter
Lilian	Daughter
James	Son	Draper's Assistant
Fanny	Daughter
Mabel	Daughter
John	Son
Mary	Daughter
Harold	Son
Arthur	Son
Fred	Son
Hannah Rees	Servant	Cook
Mary Harris	Servant	Housemaid
Elizabeth Evans	Servant	Parlourmaid
Mary Richards	Servant	General Servant
Mary Hitching	Servant	Nurse

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.	What does Mr Howell do?
5.	Does the fact that Howell is planning on building a new house give you any information about his job?
6.	How many children does he have?
7.	How many servants does he have?
8.	How many people live at 21 The Walk all together?

 

Now have a look at a plan of the Mansion House.

 

9.

If you compare the plan with the photograph, what do you notice?

10.	How many staircases are there?
11.	Why do you think this is?
12.	How many bedrooms can you count?
13.	Compare the number of bedrooms with the number of children.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look again at the photograph of the house.

14.

Where do you think the servants slept?

 

James Howell was the owner of Howell's shop, and a very clever businessman.
He planned that the large house, built for him and his family, could be converted into smaller homes. After his death his children could either live in the smaller ones or sell them more easily.

Look at the plan of the ground floor of the house.

15.

How would you convert one house into two?

James Howell planned that the house would be divided through the middle, and had two front doors built. In the cellar of the house there is a very strong wall that runs between the front doors to the back of the house. If necessary this could be extended upwards to make two separate houses.

After his death in 1909, the house wasn't divided after all. Instead the whole property was sold to the Borough Council in 1913. It was used as an official residence for the mayor of the city.

16.	Do you think many people lived in houses like Mr Howell?
17.	Is your house like this one? List the things that are similar, and the things that are different