Crown Buildings, Cathays Park
The Crown Buildings (Welsh: Adeilad y Goron), which is also known as Cathays Park Buildings, are the Welsh Government's main offices in Cardiff, Wales. The buildings were formerly used by the Welsh Office and are situated in Cathays Park. The complex consists of two buildings, Cathays Park 1 (Grade 2 listed building) and Cathays Park 2, joined by two skybridges.
Cathays Park 1 (aka CP1 or old Crown Building) was built in 1938 by P E Hanton as Board of Health offices. It is a three-storey building with 3,599 m2 (38,740 sq ft) of floorspace, designed in the neoclassical style of architecture. It also has an attic and a basement.[1]
Cathays Park 2 (aka CP2 or new Crown Building) is a five-storey office building with 34,305 m2 (369,260 sq ft) of floorspace, including an underground car park and a central atrium housing a cafe for the office staff.[2] The Encyclopedia of Wales describes CP2, completed in 1979, as conveying an impression of "bureaucracy under siege".[3]
The sky bridge between Cathays Park 1 and 2 'the link' has been the subject of some discussion amongst staff based in the building. People have reported and eerie feeling, a general sense of something 'unworldly' with people catching fleeting glimpses out of the corner of their eye which had led to rumours of the area being haunted.[4]
Notes
- ^ Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales
- ^ The National Asset Register 2007 - HM Treasury
- ^ The Welsh Academy Encyclopedia of Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press 2008
- ^ 'Something over your shoulder in the Link?' Seren (The Welsh Assembly Government Staff Magazine), February 2009
External links
- Aerial photograph of Cathays Park (the Crown Buildings are in the middle foreground)
- The National Assembly for Wales - A Home For the Assembly
51°29′18″N 3°10′57″W / 51.48832°N 3.18262°W
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