Brutalist Britain by Harwood Elain;

Author:Harwood, Elain;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pavilion Books

GWENT HOUSE

Gwent Square, Cwmbran

1969–73; Richard Sheppard, Robson & Partners

The plans for a commercial hub at the heart of Cwmbran new town from the first included a central building containing a range of leisure facilities. After visiting rebuilt Rotterdam in 1958, the head of the development corporation, Lady Rhys Williams, determined that a ‘really fine building’ was key to the success of the new town. Following her resignation in 1960, the project stalled until the appointment of a new general manager, James McComb, in 1962 and a new, young chief architect, Gordon Redfern from the London County Council. A protégé of Graeme Shankland and a keen socialist, Redfern finally realised the large pedestrian shopping centre, including a 22-storey residential block (‘The Tower’) and Monmouth House, built in 1965–67 with 56 flats to bring life to the area after the ground-floor shops shut, featuring a relief by William Mitchell.

For the town’s most prestigious building the corporation in 1966 appointed one of London’s leading specialists in public buildings. An intended hotel never materialised and belatedly McComb recognised the need for office jobs in Cwmbran. Gwent House included offices – initially occupied by the corporation itself – as well as shops, banks, the flexible 500-seat Congress Theatre and a public library. The precast concrete cladding on a 20ft (6m) grid reflected the discipline established by Redfern. Facing Gwent Square are murals by Henry and Joyce Collins at first-floor level featuring figures from across the area’s history: a Welsh tribesman, a Roman centurion from nearby Caerleon, a medieval cleric and a miner.

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