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Llandaff has been a site of Christian worship since as early as the 6th century, but many of its churches were destroyed or damaged in the Cardiff Blitz of the Second World War. This led to a number of notable new-build churches and unique reconstructions after the war, including two projects by the prolific ecclesiastical architect George Pace. Llandaff is also home to a number of modern houses with a range of different approaches – some worked to fit into their historic setting while retaining a distinctly modern character, whereas others committed fully to ideals of modernist housing and design.
The Trail.
1 The Gore.
Hird & Brooks 1966
This flat-roofed pool house was one of the first private commissions created by Graham Brooks, following the positive attention garnered in 1964 by his own Danish-inspired home West Lodge in St. Andrew’s Major. The design employs a sprawling single-storey form, with white-painted brick walls contrasted by a black timber roof with exposed beams, a language Brooks would go on to reuse in 1975 at The Mount development in Dinas Powys.
In 1968, Capel House won the Eisteddfod Gold Medal for Architecture, the second ever to be awarded following the creation of the award in 1954.
2 2-4 Fordwell.
Hird & Brooks 1960s
The practice’s second project in Llandaff was an estate of three houses for new collaborator Deri Homes. Per the client’s request, the homes are styled after their 1973 Elm Grove Lane development in Dinas Powys, with the addition of a thin strip of windows between the two floors, creating lighter spaces downstairs.
3 Office Cleaning Services (Wales) Ltd.
Holder & Mathias Partnership c1978
Now called Cwrt Y Llan, this cascading office with a RIBA commendation was recently saved from demolition by a conversion into six flats, retaining much of its original form but losing its bare blockwork under more contemporary cladding.
4 Cathedral Green
Wyn Thomas & Partners 1979
This 21-home cul-de-sac development on the site of the old cathedral school employs traditional forms to blend into the historic centre of Llandaff, but the details are satisfyingly modern, including angled brick window sills and concrete lintels over the two pends. The houses won a Civic Trust commendation in 1983.
5 Llandaff Cathedral Renovations.
George Pace 1953-56
Llandaff Cathedral had been the historic heart of the village since long before it was subsumed by Cardiff in 1922. However, during the 1941 Cardiff Blitz the church was struck by a bomb, destroying much of the nave.
Architect George Pace, who specialised in churches, was brought in to conduct renovations. He brought a modern flourish to his work, introducing the parabolic concrete arch which holds aloft the organ pipes and one of sculptor Jacob Epstein’s final works, the cast-aluminium Christ in Majesty. Other changes included the addition of the Welch Regiment memorial chapel on the north side of the church.
6 Courtyard House.
Hird & Brooks 1980
Hird & Brooks’ final house in Llandaff was also one of their most complex, building on the brick courtyard houses of their Merevale estate in Dinas Powys. From the street we see a sculptural entrance courtyard, designed carefully around existing mature trees. Inside, the timber roofs create a cozy atmosphere, sloping down toward a sheltered garden.
7 St. Michael's Theological College Chapel
George Pace 1957-59
Pace’s next project in Llandaff was to create a new chapel for St. Michael’s Theological College, again replacing one destroyed in the war. Conceived just a few years after Le Corbusier’s 1954 Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut at Ronchamp, the influence is evident in the thick walls, punctured by an assortment of rectangular windows. However, the chapel differs greatly in its overall form and materiality, taking more inspiration from Welsh vernacular with rubble stone walls and a slate roof, giving it a barn-like appearance. Internally, its condition is remarkable, retaining all of its original fixtures and fittings. The chapel was Grade I listed in 2004 as “the finest example of [Pace’s] work in Wales.”
8 St. David’s Lutheran Church.
Vernon Kinch / Alex Gordon & Partners 1961
St. David’s is modest in its materiality, with a simple palette of brick and concrete. Its religious nature is expressed instead through careful use of natural light. This effect is especially striking internally at the far wall, which is lit by a strip of concealed windows.
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