One of the few remaining historical buildings in Dowlais is the Guest Memorial Hall, or the Guest Keen Club as it is more commonly know today. It has a fascinating, if troubled history.
When Josiah John Guest died in 1852, his widow, Lady Charlotte began thinking of projects to commemorate her husband. Her first project was to build a school for the children of the Dowlais area, and the Dowlais Central Schools were completed in 1855. Whilst the school was under construction, the work-men of the Dowlais Ironworks also wanted to contribute to another memorial to their former employer.
In March 1854, a public meeting was held, and it was proposed that a library and reading room should be built in memory of Josiah John Guest. A committee was set up, and subscription lists were issued – they even placed an advertisement in The Times newspaper. A sum of £2,200 was eventually raised, and Sir Charles Barry was commissioned to design the building.
Sir Charles Barry was one of the foremost architects of the day, his most famous work being the Houses of Parliament. A personal friend of Sir Josiah and Lady Charlotte Guest, he had been responsible for designing the Dowlais Central School.
Unfortunately, Barry’s plans proved too grandiose for the funds available. Work started in early 1855, but by the end of the year, over £5,000 had already been spent on the project. New trustees were appointed, and they were dismayed to discover that not only had a huge amount been spent in excess of the budget, but only the walls and roof timbers had been prepared.
The trustees, having paid for slating the roof and glazing the upper story, called an emergency public meeting. They offered two alternatives: firstly the subscribers could try to find the extra money required to complete the work; or secondly, they could hand over the project to the Dowlais Iron Company who would finish the work, and thus own the building. The subscribers decided on the latter course of action.
The Dowlais Iron Company took over the project, and the original subscriptions were returned to the trustees who used the money to provide annual scholarships for the children taught in the Dowlais schools.
The new library, which was a classical style cruciform two-storey building, the main rooms raised on a basement storey, built of massive stones with a Bath-stone balustraded pillared portico on the first floor, was finally opened in 1863. The total cost of the building was £7,000. The new library was equipped with an excellent collection of books in both Welsh and English, and newspapers and magazines were also available to the public. A part of the building was also set aside to be used as a museum, and fossils that had been discovered in local pits and quarries were displayed there.
The library closed in 1907 when the new Carnegie Free Library opened in Dowlais. The building subsequently became a social club and remains open to this day as a restaurant and as an events venue.
What a great piece -. It says much about the ease with which the costs associated with large-scale building works can spiral out of control! But the project began with a glorious rush of enthusiasm. On 28 March 1854 – about sixteen months after the death of John Guest – his widow Lady Charlotte would write: ‘Evans here a great deal. Told me of the meeting that the men had held the previous evening to make some arrangements for the monument they talk of erecting to the memory of my dear husband.’ From her journal it emerges that the initial plan had been to put up a statue but Charlotte, who evidently knew something about this idea, did not entirely like it. Behind the scenes, she persuaded John’s nephew Edward Hutchins, who was well known to the Dowlais workforce, to suggest that ‘the most noble & appropriate monument they could erect to one who took so much interest in the improvement of the People would be a handsome Workman’s Hall to serve as a Reading Room & Library – a bust or statue being placed in the Entrance-. ‘ Clearly, the proposal went down well, for it ‘was carried by a large majority & a committee of 25 were at once appointed to manage the undertaking. ‘
Many thanks for the extra information Victoria.