Bute Street (Cardiff)
Encyclopedia
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. It links Cardiff Bay
Cardiff Bay
Cardiff Bay is the area created by the Cardiff Barrage in South Cardiff, the capital of Wales. The regeneration of Cardiff Bay is now widely regarded as one of the most successful regeneration projects in the United Kingdom. The Bay is supplied by two rivers to form a freshwater lake round the...
(previously Tiger Bay
Tiger Bay
Tiger Bay was the local name for an area of Cardiff which covered Butetown and Cardiff Docks. It was re-branded as Cardiff Bay following the building of the Cardiff Barrage which dams the tidal rivers Ely and Taff to create a body of water.-History:...
) and Butetown
Butetown
Butetown is a community in the south of the city of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. It was originally a model housing estate built in the early nineteenth century by John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute, for whose title the area was named...
with Cardiff city centre
Cardiff city centre
Cardiff city centre is the central business district of Cardiff, Wales. The area is tightly bounded by the River Taff to the west, the Civic centre to the north and railway lines and two railway stations - Central and Queen Street - to the south and east respectively...
. It now has no road number. It runs from the dockside of the Mermaid Quay
Mermaid Quay
Mermaid Quay is a waterfront shopping and leisure district in Cardiff Bay, Cardiff, Wales. The 14,000 sq m development was opened in 1999, and includes restaurants, bars, cafes and shops.- Eating & Drinking at Mermaid Quay :...
complex in the south, which is a pedestrianised zone, to the junction of Bute Terrace (A4160) in the north.
History
What is today Bute Street was previously mostly meadow and marshland called Soudrey, the Cardiff south moors. The 2nd Marquess of ButeJohn Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute
John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute, KT, FRS was the son of John, Lord Mount Stuart and the former Lady Elizabeth McDouall-Crichton...
realised in the 1820s that the Glamorganshire Canal
Glamorganshire Canal
The Glamorganshire Canal was a canal in south Wales, UK, running from Merthyr Tydfil to Cardiff. Construction started in 1790, and the 25 miles of canal was fully opened by 1794. Its primary purpose was to enable the Merthyr iron industries to transport their goods, and it later served the coal...
was not sufficient to cope with the demands of the iron trade and initiated a development plan. This plan included the construction of Bute Street as a main road in and out of the docks area and it was completed in 1830. Bute Street used to be part of the A470 road
A470 road
The A470 is a major long-distance connective spine road in Wales, running from Cardiff on the south coast to Llandudno on the north coast. It covers approximately 186 miles , over a zig-zagging route through the entirety of the country's mountainous central region, including the Brecon Beacons and...
, up until Lloyd George Avenue
Lloyd George Avenue
Lloyd George Avenue is an avenue in Cardiff, Wales. Roughly one mile long, the road links the Inner Harbour of Cardiff Bay to Cardiff city centre and forms part of the A470 road. It runs parallel to Bute Street and the Butetown Branch Line...
was opened on 4 October 2000, it is now an unclassified road.
Junctions on Bute Street
- Bute Terrace and Custom House Street
- Callaghan Square
- North Church Street
- Maria Street
- Loudon Place
- Hodges Row
- Hannah Street
- West Close
- Hemmingway Road
- West Bute Street
- James Street and Bute Place
- Stuart Street
Mermaid Quay
The GB£25 million Mermaid QuayMermaid Quay
Mermaid Quay is a waterfront shopping and leisure district in Cardiff Bay, Cardiff, Wales. The 14,000 sq m development was opened in 1999, and includes restaurants, bars, cafes and shops.- Eating & Drinking at Mermaid Quay :...
shopping and leisure complex was opened in 1999, it was built on the site of the former The Welsh Industrial & Maritime Museum, which was opened in 1977 but closed in 1998 to make way for Mermaid Quay.
Cory’s Building (57 Bute Street)
Cory’s Building is a 5 storey grade II listed building situated at the corner of Bute Place and Bute Street. It was built in 1889 and it was built for Cory Brothers & Co. Ltd.The brothers were John Cory (1828–1910) and Richard Cory (1830–1914). The business included ship's chandlery, brokerage and the sale and export of coal. The company also owned several collieries in Wales. The brothers also became the largest private wagon-owners in the United Kingdom, with over 5,000 wagons.
Now it is planned to be part of a large commercial development called Merchant Place. It is intended to be renamed Cory Chambers, with the external façade being refurbished and a further storey is being added.
Cardiff Bay Railway Station
Taff Vale Railway
The Taff Vale Railway is a railway in Glamorgan, South Wales, and is one of the oldest in Wales. It operated as an independent company from 1836 until 1922, when it became a constituent company of the Great Western Railway...
(TVR) in 1843 and extended in 1860. It was from near this site that the very first train in South Wales ran in October 1840, when the TVR opened the line to Abercynon. Around 1870, the TVR set up its Bute Road headquarters. The station was central to the coal export trade. In 1920, Bute Docks
Cardiff Docks
Cardiff Docks is a port in south Cardiff, Wales. At its peak, the port was one of the largest dock systems in the world with a total quayage of almost...
, the TVR and the Cardiff Railway
Cardiff Railway
The Cardiff Railway came into being from the need to service Bute Docks, so as to provide facilities for the traffic to and from the Docks. The railway was only 11 miles in length, a fact which belied its importance, since it provided both the Taff Vale Railway and the Rhymney Railway, inter alia,...
were sold to the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
, and for a short time made it the busiest and most important rail system in the world.
Church of St. Mary the Virgin and St. Stephen the Martyr
St. Mary the Virgin and St. Stephen the Martyr is a grade II listed building and was built in 1843.97 Bute Street
HSBC Bank (Europe)
HSBC Bank plc is one of the four major clearing banks in the United Kingdom and is a wholly owned subsidiary of HSBC Holdings. The business ranges from the traditional High Street roles of personal finance and commercial banking, to private banking, consumer finance as well as corporate and...
, was built in 1874 for Cory’s, who later moved 57 Bute St
Other grade II listed buildings
- 4 Bute Street, Doicks Chambers
- 54 Bute Street, formerly Pascoe House, built in 1875 for Powell DuffrynPowell DuffrynPD Ports is a Middlesbrough-headquartered British ports operator.Formerly known as Powell Duffryn, it dug its first coal mine in South Wales in 1840, and later expanded into various sorts of manufacturing...
. - 54a Bute Street, Meandros House.
- 54b-54c Bute Street.
- 55 55 Bute Street, Seaway House
- 56 Bute Street. The former Customs & Immigration office, built in 1889
- 113-116 Bute Street, previously the National Westminster BankNational Westminster BankNational Westminster Bank Plc, commonly known as NatWest, is the largest retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom and has been part of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc since 2000. The Royal Bank of Scotland Group is ranked as the second largest bank in the world by assets...
building, built in 1926-7. This is a Grade II* listed building - 117 Bute Street, was previously the Docks Non-Political Club and the Baltimore Hotel.
- 122-124 Bute Street, built 1947.
- 125 Bute Street, built in 1847 for Powell DuffrynPowell DuffrynPD Ports is a Middlesbrough-headquartered British ports operator.Formerly known as Powell Duffryn, it dug its first coal mine in South Wales in 1840, and later expanded into various sorts of manufacturing...
who later moved to 54 Bute Street. Now used by the Royal Bank of ScotlandRoyal Bank of ScotlandThe Royal Bank of Scotland Group is a British banking and insurance holding company in which the UK Government holds an 84% stake. This stake is held and managed through UK Financial Investments Limited, whose voting rights are limited to 75% in order for the bank to retain its listing on the... - 126 Bute Street, Britannic Buildings.
- Docks Chambers (Emlyn House) built in 1860.