Cardiff Exchange Building

Cardiff Exchange Building

A Grade II* listed building constructed in pale cream Corsham stone on a snecked grey stone plinth, with yellow brick on the west elevation. Slate roofs and chimneys in yellow brick complete the exterior.

The building's style derives from French Renaissance models. The main entrance front faces south and rises three storeys with a basement, plus attic storeys incorporated into a central pedimented frontispiece topped by a hipped pavilion roof. An attic pediment frames a round window, and the parapet features windows with segmental pediments. The lower attic storey has a central semi-circular architrave enclosing a window group, flanked by windows with moulded architraves. A lower pediment sits on paired engaged fluted Corinthian columns, with floral relief in the triangular pediment above crowned by the Royal Arms. Second-floor windows have horned architraves with swags; first-floor windows are generally round-headed; ground-floor windows are paired beneath broken scroll pediments.

Two asymmetrical projecting wings with pavilion-type roofs enclose a forecourt. An underground carpark in concrete with cast concrete balusters was added later. The wing elevations facing the forecourt follow the main front's style, though the west wing has extra bays. Polygonal south returns of the wings feature splayed bay windows on all floors, flanked by external chimneys with stone panelling and pilasters.

The east range has curvilinear pavilion-type roofs. End and centre bays are articulated by pilasters. The centre bay contains a shallow frontispiece with extra attic storeys closely matching the main front's style, whilst end bays have pedimented attic windows. A grey stone basement with segmental-headed windows runs across. At the north-east corner, steps lead up to a projecting porch serving the Barclays Bank, resident here since the building's opening.

The north elevation features a central advanced block of four storeys with five bays, flanked by asymmetrical three-storey blocks with pedimented attic windows. The west elevation is less ambitious, constructed in yellow brick with bathstone dressings, three storeys in height, though bays behind the entrance front wing are two storeys with dormers in the attic.

The entrance hall retains a Jacobethan-style moulded plaster ceiling, panelled walls, and a woodblock and inlay floor. Two fireplaces to the right feature 17th-century-style wooden surrounds. Against a wood and glass partition wall at the rear stand two lions on high plinths supporting clock faces displaying Cardiff high tide times. Further rooms extend to left and right, with doors in the rear partition wall leading to the central Coal and Shipping Hall.

The exchange floor is surrounded by galleried tiers of offices in Jacobethan-style dark wood. An inserted coved ceiling has reduced the height to two storeys, obscuring the centrally glazed roof with its arched ribs, though the top tier of offices remains visible as a corridor. The fascia of the top gallery remains visible with cornice, swags, and garlands, supported by Corinthian columns with gilded capitals. In the lower zones, carved decoration features dolphins alternating with trophies of a pick, a shovel, and a miner's lamp. Columns are paired at the central bays of the hall's short sides. To the east, a barometer is framed; to the west, a segmental pedimented aedicule contains a clock flanked by dragons, inscribed 'Tempus Fugit'. The gallery fascia at this level features panelling and aprons. Gallery brackets support the structure with alternating corbels of dragon and lion heads. Decorated plaster panels appear beneath overhanging balconies. A sunk central floor is surrounded by wooden partitions to offices. A deeper area to the rear (north) contains a fireplace, wood and glass partitioning, and is lit by stained glass windows including stylised ships and the inscription 'Ye Olde Order Changeth'.