David Morgan Department Store

The David Morgan Department Store is a large department store building comprising three main blocks, dating back to 1899 and situated above the entrance to Morgan Arcade. The central block is constructed of Portland stone, bathstone, and red sandstone columns. It features four storeys and an attic, with a four-window central gable and dormer windows on either side. The second and third floors have three bays; the central bay has two-storey oriels flanking a pair of windows, while the outer bays each have two windows. The third-floor windows are set within sandstone arches with keystones, and the second-floor windows are beneath a red sandstone band articulated by colonettes. The first floor features nine arched windows with red sandstone columns.

The south block is four storeys plus an attic with dormer windows, built of Pennant stone with dressings in bathstone and grey sandstone. Red sandstone banding is present, and the windows are sash windows. The asymmetrical frontage is arranged around a five-storey tower. A block to the north of the tower is arranged in two bays, articulated by banded pilasters and subdivided by colonettes on head corbels. It has corbelled eaves and seven windows, arched at the top floor and cambered on the other floors. A similar treatment is visible on the south side, featuring a block of five windows and then two blocks of paired windows on the upper floors, with triple windows on the first floor.

The north block has a Portland stone facade of five bays, four storeys, and an attic with a mansard roof and large dormers featuring small-pane glazing. A central splayed section within a broken pediment incorporates a dome over a splayed window. The second and third floors have splayed windows recessed between panelled pilasters; segmental pediments are above the second-floor windows, while a balcony with black marble columns is above the third-floor window. The first floor has a large arched window at the centre, flanked by pairs of round-arched windows with black marble columns. The ground floor has been unified by a 1950s remodelling, joining all three blocks and providing access to the Morgan Arcade. This includes travertine shopfronts (with good bronze windows in the north block), large plate glass windows, and a cantilevered canopy. The ground-floor entrance to the north block is flanked by a pair of Larvikite columns, known as “one of the priceless geological treasures of Cardiff” in "The Building Stones of Cardiff," and these columns have bronze Ionic capitals.