The Story of the Hall

In 1907, the County Borough Council of Swansea had decided that there was a need for a larger town hall and civic complex, and began to design a scheme to provide facilities, including a public assembly hall. In 1930, the scheme went out to competition and attracted 77 submissions, from which Mr Percy Thomas of Cardiff was chosen.

The Guildhall was built in Victoria Park a little way from the city centre of Swansea. The great clock tower rises 50 metres (160 feet) above the entrance and provides a focal point in the townscape. The tower has huge galley prows (a reference to the legend of Swansea's Viking origins), which project outwards as balconies at the upper stages of the tower.

The outside of the Guildhall is clad in Portland Stone, which contrasts with the materials used in the surrounding buildings. The entire building was planned around a courtyard, Brangwyn Hall being in the Public Assembly block on the southern side.
The foundation stone was laid in 1932 - the building's construction taking place in a decade of harsh recession and high local unemployment. It was a concern of the Council that the majority of building costs should be spent on manpower, which helped to alleviate local hardship and make use of the unemployment relief schemes, rather than materials.

From London to Swansea

In 1933, whilst the Guildhall was under construction and the foundations of the Assembly Hall were being laid, an announcement was made by Lord Iveagh's trustees that the 16 panels painted by Sir Frank Brangwyn (1867-1956 ), the international artist, would be given to a municipality or body who could house and display them.
At the height of his career Brangwyn was the most famous British artist of his time, known for his use of vivid colour and for working on a grand scale.

In 1924, Lord Iveagh had decided to provide, at his own expense and on behalf of the peers of the realm, a memorial to their own war dead. The memorial would be a mural painting, in panels, amounting to a total surface area of 3,000 square feet, to be placed in the Royal Gallery of the House of Lords.

Brangwyn worked on the war scenes from 1925 - 26, but he and his patron discovered that they wanted something more optimistic. Consequently, the war scenes were set aside (they now reside in the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff), and Brangwyn re-started the series with a "synthetic panorama of the beauty of Great Britain ... [to show] what the Forces of the Empire fought for."

The theme of the panels became the 'peoples and produce of the great Empire', which had loyally supported Britain in the First World War.
Brangwyn said of his work: "My theme is the Empire, in all its majesty and multitudinous resource, for that, as I see it, is the most fitting commemoration."
The scenes of a luxuriant and brilliantly coloured jungle have a spirit of fantasy, artistically inspired by his many travels and by studying the animals at London Zoo.

Lord Ivaegh died in 1927 when only 5 of the 16 panels had been completed. These were presented to the House of Lords Committee, who decided, on the advice of the Royal Commission of Fine Art, that the work was unsuitable for the House of Lords. The trustees, however, encouraged Brangwyn to finish the work, which he completed in October 1932. In the following year, the trustees decided to offer the panels to another body.

After viewing the completed series of panels at the Ideal Home Exhibition in Olympia in 1933, Swansea Councillor, Leslie W. Hefferman, insisted that Swansea must host the panels. The Council began discussions with the trustees and agreed to alter the plans for the new Assembly Hall to accommodate the panels. This included raising the ceiling by 12 inches, and making recesses in the walls to house the panel frames so the panels appeared to be painted directly onto the walls.

Brangwyn Hall - Concert Hall

On the 23rd October 1934, the Guildhall was opened by HRH the Duke of Kent. The inaugural concert which took place in the Brangwyn Hall that evening was performed by Swansea and District Royal Male Choir, and from that time until the completion of St David's Hall in Cardiff, the Hall remained the only large, purpose-built concert hall in Wales.

This first concert provoked the comment from 'Onlooker' who wrote a weekly column in the Herald of Wales, that:
"...the Brangwyn Hall made a magnificent setting. It makes one wonder whether it will be possible to revive the great Swansea tradition as the musical centre of South Wales. There may be something to be said for the use of the hall on social occasions, but the real alliance of the gorgeous panels is with the sister art of music."

Brangwyn Hall can seat over 1,300, and was conceived as an assembly and concert hall. The stage was designed to take the largest symphony orchestras, backed by an organ behind an elaborate metal grill, with rising steps at the rear to accommodate choirs.

The acoustics of the hall have been praised for providing an exceptional sound for sound for recitals, orchestral pieces and chamber music alike. Many orchestras and soloists choose to record in the Hall rather than alternative venues in London or the rest of the UK. In 1936, Sir Thomas Beecham described it early on in its history as being one of the finest concert halls in Europe, when he played there with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. In mor erecent times, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales regularly perform and record concerts in the Hall for BBC Radio 3.

Brangwyn Hall Today

The Brangwyn Hall has functioned as the focal point of local government and justice. It is the fount of civic ceremony and is one of the principal centres of social and cultural life in Swansea. Although the Empire may have been fading as Brangwyn finished the last of the series, the panels serve as testament to the creative vision of the artist, but also to the Council, for providing a purpose-built municipal environment where this artistic achievement could be enjoyed by the public on a daily basis.

This article was originally written for the BBC Legacies - Local History website