From Harbour Office to Hotel.

 Located in Adelaide Street, alongside the offices of the Evening Post, is Morgans Hotel, an impressive art-nouveau building that arose from an architectural competition held in the early 1900's to design new office accommodation for the Swansea Harbour Trust. Ninety-seven architects submitted designs from all over the UK, with the sum of 100 guineas as the prize. The commission was won by Edwin Seward, a partner in the Cardiff firm James Seward & Thomas who had built some of Cardiff's most notable public buildings of the late 19th century, including the Free Library in the Hayes and the Coal and Shipping Exchange in Mount Stuart Square.

 The foundation stone for the new building was laid on the 18th February 1902 by the Mayor of Swansea, Griffith Thomas, who was also Chairman of the Swansea Harbour Trust. The stone was laid using an ornamental trowel with an ivory handle and a silver blade which can still be seen today in the collection of the Swansea Museum. The contract for construction was awarded to Messrs. Lloyd Bros. of Swansea, who completed the building towards the latter end of 1903.

     Constructed of red Cattybrook brick and Portland stone, the richly-ornate building has many outstanding features such as a large ornamental clock tower, an impressive dome over the main staircase with leaded lights highlighting the points of the compass, and a fine stained glass window portraying various maritime and industrial themes. On the first floor is a grand teak-panelled boardroom – now Morgans restaurant – with a large mural by Robert Morton Nance depicting Swansea Harbour in the 17th century with Swansea Castle in the background. The original art-nouveau light fittings remain, but the large oval boardroom table around which the Trustees met is now housed in the new Harbour Office building on Kings Dock. A surviving example of the chairs upon which the Trustees sat, made from solid oak and covered in crimson Moroccan leather bearing the Swansea Harbour Trust crest embossed in gold, can also be seen in the Swansea Museum.

 The building was occupied by the Swansea Harbour Trust and its successors, the Great Western Railway, the British Transport Commission, the British Transport Docks Board and Associated British Ports for a period of 88 years until 1991, when a new Harbour Office was built near the lock head at Kings Dock, Swansea. A few years later our group was lucky enough to be shown around the former Harbour Office as its renovation was in progress, and we were very impressed by the quality of the materials and the workmanship involved, and also by the commitment shown by the new owners, Martin and Louisa Morgan, to this historic landmark building.