As with the Synagogue, the valve tower has a fairy tale Gothic quality, octagonal in plan and built of coursed rock faced penant stone. Pointed arches with hood mouldings, corbelling and a spiky copper clad roof contrast with the sombre penant stone. I would rather not dwell on the bell mouth spillway too much. Suffice to say it is a very deep hole with a concave bell shaped section designed to regulate the water level of the reservoir. As to monsters and ghostly church bells emanating from sunken lands – I think we can safely say such
things do not exist or do they?…

“On the foreground , the terrace, park, and River
Taff, beyond which the great ironworks become conspicuous;
these, at night, offer a truly magnificent
scene, resembling the fabled Pandemonium, but
upon which the eye must gaze with pleasure, and the
mind derive high satisfaction, knowing that several
thousand persons are there constantly employed
and fed by the active spirit, powerful enterprise,
and noble feeling, of the highly respected owner.”

Subsequent to being a YMCA it became a dance hall, boxing gym (managed by local boxing legend, Eddie Thomas in the 50s), offices for the Board of Trade and Ministry of Labour and from 1974 to 1989 was used as the District Education Offices for Mid-Glamorgan County Council. Following this, the council sold the building and it passed through a succession of private owners. Failing to find a viable use it quickly became derelict, a serious fire in 2003 gutted what remained of the interior and further hastened its decay. Nevertheless, despite coming perilously close to demolition the YMCA endures; emergency works were undertaken in 2014 to stabilise the structure and currently there are plans afoot to inject new life into it as offices.

The principal elevation facing the street is four stories comprising seven bays with a dramatic central element made up of a two storey oriel window above a semi-circular entrance, subtly recessed via a concave moulding and topped with a large keystone.

Although more elaborate the design reminds me of the roughly contemporary blast engine house in Dowlais being built of mainly red brick with window surrounds and pilasters highlighted in yellow (brick in the engine house and terracotta in the YMCA). With its extensive rustication and exaggerated voussoirs it could be described as “Edwardian Baroque” although it also has elements of Art Nouveau in the foliated decoration and the panel below the oriel. Within the panel one can still read the Young Men’s Christian Association lettering in relief.

I would like to remain optimistic and see the building rejuvenated – it is a rare surviving example of a purpose built YMCA and idiosyncratic work of architecture by a prominent Welsh architect. However it has been in a parlous state for over three decades and the monies required to repair it staggeringly large so lets keep our fingers firmly crossed.

From the initial simple form it was gradually rebuilt until it became a fully Victorian Neo-Gothic edifice with the architect E A Johnson being responsible for the last historic building stage, adding the aisle and porches in 1893-4. The adoption of Gothic as an appropriate style for ecclesiastical architecture in the 19 C was inspired by the writings of Ruskin and Augustus Charles Pugin who, in Contrasts (1836) reasoned that “…architectural form imitates the condition of the society that creates it; since the society of medieval times was a paragon of virtue and moral integrity then it was natural and obvious that Gothic architecture is the most moral form of architecture…”

I am not convinced, the style has a slightly morbid feel that I associate with malevolent gargoyles and shadowy interiors where spectral monks lurk….That is not to say I do not appreciate the rock faced penant stone, accentuated with Bathstone ashlar dressings to the windows and porches, together with the soaring octagonal turret and stepped buttresses to the Southern gable. I also like the way the buttress is pierced with pointed arches defining a pathway beneath and then continued into and expressed within the stone boundary wall. Unusually for a Church, the stained glass triple lancet window to the South gable has an industrial theme depicting two coal miners digging at a coal face with the caption underneath, ‘The Thing that is hid Bringeth he forth light’.

The Church was closed in 1997 but is now being redeveloped as apartments. However, it can never be separated from the man who commissioned it all those years ago; Sir John Josiah Guest, who is entombed within the Church beneath a large granite slab in an iron sarcophagus.

From the initial simple form it was gradually rebuilt until it became a fully Victorian Neo-Gothic edifice with the architect E A Johnson being responsible for the last historic building stage, adding the aisle and porches in 1893-4. The adoption of Gothic as an appropriate style for ecclesiastical architecture in the 19 C was inspired by the writings of Ruskin and Augustus Charles Pugin who, in Contrasts (1836) reasoned that “…architectural form imitates the condition of the society that creates it; since the society of medieval times was a paragon of virtue and moral integrity then it was natural and obvious that Gothic architecture is the most moral form of architecture…”

I am not convinced, the style has a slightly morbid feel that I associate with malevolent gargoyles and shadowy interiors where spectral monks lurk….That is not to say I do not appreciate the rock faced penant stone, accentuated with Bathstone ashlar dressings to the windows and porches, together with the soaring octagonal turret and stepped buttresses to the Southern gable. I also like the way the buttress is pierced with pointed arches defining a pathway beneath and then continued into and expressed within the stone boundary wall. Unusually for a Church, the stained glass triple lancet window to the South gable has an industrial theme depicting two coal miners digging at a coal face with the caption underneath, ‘The Thing that is hid Bringeth he forth light’.

The Church was closed in 1997 but is now being redeveloped as apartments. However, it can never be separated from the man who commissioned it all those years ago; Sir John Josiah Guest, who is entombed within the Church beneath a large granite slab in an iron sarcophagus.

Enveloped by terraced workers housing to the sides and rear known as the collar block on account of the rounded corners of the terrace (a feature apparently unique to Dowlais), the building was a rectangular form of ranges set around a railway served courtyard. Architecturally all that remains is the primary frontage and the stuccoed stable master house at the rear of the court. The building is a linear two storey symmetrical block comprising nine bay ranges arranged around a central entrance and two end pavilions. Decoration is used sparingly with tooled grey limestone dressings and quoins. Each of the end pavilions are articulated through recessed blind arches, roundels and are surmounted by coped pediments. A tall broad depressed arch provides access to the courtyard through the central pavilion. Its hierarchical importance in the facade is further reinforced through the circular clock face, dated stone plaque, star shaped tie rods and an octagonal cupola perched on the roof. Warmth and textural interest is provided by the brown hues of the rubble facing stone, indigenous to South Wales.

Some time later, in 1844 just below the Stables, a Market Hall was constructed, designed by Edward Haycock. As with the stables it took the form of a quadrangle and formed the commercial heart of Dowlais. Alas, it was demolished in 1972 along with the nearby police station and many of the terraced workers housing. Having lain derelict for many years the site was landscaped, improving the imposing aspect of the stable block.

Enveloped by terraced workers housing to the sides and rear known as the collar block on account of the rounded corners of the terrace (a feature apparently unique to Dowlais), the building was a rectangular form of ranges set around a railway served courtyard. Architecturally all that remains is the primary frontage and the stuccoed stable master house at the rear of the court. The building is a linear two storey symmetrical block comprising nine bay ranges arranged around a central entrance and two end pavilions. Decoration is used sparingly with tooled grey limestone dressings and quoins. Each of the end pavilions are articulated through recessed blind arches, roundels and are surmounted by coped pediments. A tall broad depressed arch provides access to the courtyard through the central pavilion. Its hierarchical importance in the facade is further reinforced through the circular clock face, dated stone plaque, star shaped tie rods and an octagonal cupola perched on the roof. Warmth and textural interest is provided by the brown hues of the rubble facing stone, indigenous to South Wales.

Some time later, in 1844 just below the Stables, a Market Hall was constructed, designed by Edward Haycock. As with the stables it took the form of a quadrangle and formed the commercial heart of Dowlais. Alas, it was demolished in 1972 along with the nearby police station and many of the terraced workers housing. Having lain derelict for many years the site was landscaped, improving the imposing aspect of the stable block.

Affectionately known as the Wendy House by my father when it was used a warehouse for the nearby OP Chocolate factory where he worked, it is essentially a decorated shed. Albeit a shed given architectural flamboyance and civic grandeur generally reserved for public buildings. It is colossal in size, being 54m long and 15m high predominantly in red brick, resting on a rubble stone plinth and punctuated by large arched metal framed windows with decorative yellow dressings.

I have always found the cast iron portico on the North West side strange with two squat columns perched on a flat roof supporting nothing…..

At the moment it is looking a bit sorry for itself but at least it is full of life; being currently home to a youth centre.

The sensitive refurbishment by Austin Smith Lord architects has maintained the integrity of the original design and plan; two distinct volumes arranged around a central atrium. To the front, a roughly square building formerly housing the county offices faces the main High street. To the rear following the slope of the site, a rectangular block is offset at a slight angle which formerly contained the law courts and police cells. Externally, rusticated penant stone provides a strong and contrasting base to the warmer red cattybrook brick skin above. Orange terracotta enlivens the facade further with pilasters, bay windows, finials, heraldic lions, Dutch like gables and the theatrical cantilevered balcony above the main entrance facing the High Street/new square. Squatting along the ridge of the steeply pitched slate roof is the painted clock turret positioned above the entrance and balcony elements emphasising the central bay of the elevation. Internally the decorative orgiastic frenzy is continued with Art Nouveau glazed tiling, mysterious masonic symbols and the sweeping grand imperial staircase animated through the play of light and shadow cast by the large stained glass window on the half landing. It is also worth mentioning that the roof is supported via a series of cast iron trusses (it would have been rude not to, being the seat of government in the pre-eminent iron town of Merthyr Tydfil). Let us hope that the good fortune of the old town hall continues and perhaps take heart through the motto lovingly laid in the dragon mosaic of the entrance floor; ‘Y draig goch a ddyry cychwyn’, meaning ‘The red
dragon inspires action’.