The Colonial Building
The Strand in central London is a major thoroughfare that
runs for ¾ mile from Trafalgar
Square to Temple Bar. By contrast Swansea’s
Strand - the street below and running
parallel to
Wind Street
-
is completely different in
character. That area near the old
docks used to be given a wide berth by respectable citizens, being the haunt of
seamen of diverse nationalities, with pubs and brothels, and the scene of
frequent fights and disturbances of the peace.
The mayor in 1852 described
Swansea
“outside the Strand and its environs” as an orderly town: most of the 199 known
prostitutes in 1877 were operating in “the
Strand
and its environs”.
The
Strand
ran along the western bank of the original course of the river Tawe, an area
subject to flooding, especially before the river was diverted by the New Cut to
produce the North Dock in 1852.
Yet at
the bottom of the Strand is an impressive grade II listed building formerly
known as
Colonial Building, which is shown on the 1748 engraving of
Swansea Castle
and the
Strand by the brothers Samuel and
Nathaniel Buck, and is the subject of a deed of conveyance from 1806.
A six-storey building, the
Colonial used to be that of Ace Electrical, whose owner Mr Don Ace said the
name came from that of a Cardiff firm - though not Home and Colonial!
Originally it was a sail loft and a
dwelling-house, then it became a flour warehouse and a tea warehouse, with part
used by a sail-maker.
Swansea’s
Scandinavian residents worshipped in part of the building before acquiring the
Norwegian Church.
S
ervices were led by Pastor
Sivertsen (whose son Werner was a later Mayor of Swansea) in the sail-maker's
loft at the bottom of the Strand. As the congregation grew, Pastor Sivertsen,
along with ship’s chandler Lars Knutsen, applied to the Seamen's Mission in Norway
for Swansea to have a Norwegian
Church, as Cardiff
and Newport
had. The Newport Mission closed in 1910,
whereupon its corrugated iron building was dismantled and brought to Swansea docks, being re-erected off Fabian Way, near New Cut Bridge.
The Mission
was open each day, and became the focus for the Norwegian community, being used
as both a place of worship and a social club, and remaining open day and night
during the last war. It closed in 1998,
and was moved six years later the short distance to its present location near J
Shed, beside the former Prince of Wales dock.
It is currently used as a day nursery, with the words Sjǿmanns Kirken on
the wall of the foyer entrance.
During the last war the
Colonial Building was an annexe for the naval
headquarters HMS Lucifer at the Old Guildhall (now the Dylan Thomas
Centre).
It was used as a dormitory for
seamen on minesweepers or coastal defence vessels.
When interviewed by Jill Forwood of the
Evening Post, Don Ace, who had been a second engineer in the Royal Navy,
suggested that marks in the beams indicate that the naval men slept in
hammocks: each of those beams of Oregon pine came from an entire tree.
The interior retains the original
structure, with brick arched basement vaults supported by inverted T-girders on
cross-shaped stanchions.
Likewise cast
iron pillars support pitch pine cross-beams under timber floors.
The building’s exposed flank faces east to Quay
Parade, and contains an oculus (circular window) to the attic, two windows to
the top floor, and three windows to each of the lower floors at that end.
A boarded lift tower breaks the line of the
slate roof at the centre.
Amid the night-time exuberance of nearby Wind Street, the Colonial Building stands proud as a reminder of
the heyday of Swansea Docks.
Hi, I'm really interested in this post. Thank you. Could you possibly let me know which issue of EP the interview with Don Ace was in?
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