The house was commissioned by James Howell, the owner of
Howells department store, who opened his first shop in 1865. He selected a site on Richmond Road which he leased from
Lord Tredegar in 1890. The house was designed by the architects
Habershon & Fawckner in the
Neo-Baroque style, built in
rubble masonry and was completed in 1896. It was originally called 'The Grove'. The house was designed as a large family home, to house his 11 children. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of four bays facing onto Richmond Road. An unusual aspect of the house was that it was designed to be able to be divided into two: it featured two round-headed front doors, with a
balcony above, and a wall in the cellar which was designed to allow extension upwards. The outer bays have
bay windows on both floors. At roof level, there was a
modillioned
cornice and there were three
dormer windows. In 1913, the leasehold of the house was bought by the
Cardiff Corporation, for use as the home of the lord mayors. The
Prince of Wales met civic leaders at the mansion house during a visit to Cardiff in May 1930. In 1956, the freehold of the property was bought by the Cardiff Corporation's under the advice of their Civic Buildings Committee for £3000 from the
Tredegar Estate, most of which was being disposed of at this time in lieu of death-duties. The house continued to be used by successive lord mayors until 1995. The building had a major overhaul in time for the Cardiff
European Council summit held on 15 and 16 June 1998. It was then used by
Cardiff Council for events, functions, civil ceremonies and weddings. It also became the base for the council's protocol team. Scenes from the BBC television series,
Doctor Who, starring
Ncuti Gatwa, were shot at the mansion house in October 2023. The council ceased to use the mansion for civic purposes in the 2020s, and put it up for sale in June 2025. == See also ==