Painting Port Talbot and District

In January 2016 I was inspired by an online collection of paintings of Port Talbot to start producing some of my own. Here's a gallery of the paintings and pictures I've produced so far.

Port Talbot - Station Road

Station Road is the main shopping street in the centre of Port Talbot, and it leads from the railway station to the 1970s Afan Centre shopping mall, and the 1990s Civic Centre, which is the administrative HQ of the County Borough of Neath and Port Talbot.

Barclays Bank - Station Road

Barclay's Bank Building, Station Road

This is the Barclay's Bank building. Buildings like this are never actually valued until they're gone. My guess is that it's Late Victorian/Edwardian, and it's no more remarkable than many buildings of its type. And yet for me it's the kind of building which is disappearing from our towns and cities, and should be appreciated. If you look at the windows, and the brick and stonework you could argue that yes, some of its more medieval/Gothic borrowings does show that it's trying to be something it's not - but the main thing is that it has some ornamentation for its own sake, which I think is worth celebrating. Above all else there is little about it that is totally bare and featureless, which is the biggest grip I have about so much of the architecture of Britain since the end of world war II.

HSBC Bank Station Road

HSBC Building, Station Road

What I like about this building so much isn't just that you have the impressive Edwardian urban architecture of the facade, but the much more modern entrance, and the two of them work together. Again, how long this will last, I don't know. Station Road is something of a remnant of what Port Talbot used to be like, as much of it was torn down to make the new Civic Centre and the Afan Centre Shopping Mall.

Speaking of this particular painting, I really like the reflections in the wet road.

Grand Hotel, Station Road

Grand Hotel, Station Road, Port Talbot

When People arrive for the first time in Port Talbot on the train, probably the first building that they see is the Grand Hotel. It is a large and imposing building, and in character with the heavy VIctorian/Edwardian character of many of the better buildings of Station Road. It's right at the East end, where the road becomes Talbot Road, which in itself is part of the A48.

It's not everyone's cup of tea, I know, but I like the embellishments of turrets, the profusion of roofs etc.

Talbot Road

Station Road becomes Talbot Road just past the Grand Hotel, and the next couple of buildings are literally yards from it.

Plaza Cinema, Talbot Road

I'd been planning to paint this building for quite some time. It's literally down the end of the street in which I live, and it's a lovely and impressive art deco cinema of the type of which you used to be able to see in most towns through the length and breadth of Britain. Many are gone, and it's a very long time since the Plaza screened any films. The Council now own it, and say that they are dedicated to its preservation. Let's hope so. Let's hope so.

Taste Brasserie, Talbot Road
12x10 in acrylic
SOLD

Taste Bistro, Talbot Road

This is the other side of the road from the Plaza.It was built in 1929, and along with the Plaza and Pages it's one of the rather nice Art Deco buildings to be seen on this road, which is a marked change from the Edwardian character which remains in Station Road.

Originally called the Corner House, since I first moved here in 1986 it has been the Red Lion Pub, and also the Pink Flamingo bar. On the right hand side of the painting you can make out the level crossing which is next to the station, which is currently closed to cars.

Old Customs House, Talbot Road/Eagle Street

Old Customs House, Eagle Street

As the name suggests, Port Talbot was one an important port town, and the Customs House for the docks was literally across the other side of Eagle Street from the Plaza cinema. If you look at the painting on the left hand side you can see the edge of the roof of the Plaza. By the time I moved here it was owned and being run by the council, and in my work as a teacher I went to quite a few meetings there with Social Services concerning specific children. Looking at the style of the building I'd imagine that it predated the Plaza and the Corner House, and sadly, it's the first building I've painted which is no longer there. It was demolished a few years ago, along with the whole block on which it stood, to make way for a new development of flats and retail units (most of which retail units have never been occupied)

British Legion - Station Road (12x10in)

Royal British Legion Talbot Road

If you look at the far left hand side of this picture you can see the edge of the nondescript block that has replaced the Customs House. Calling it Customs House is a gesture that just serves as a reminder of what we lost. Across the road, then, is the Royal British Legion building. The Legion is one of the buildings you'd expect to see in most South Wales towns. This one isn't so noticeably Art Deco, but I'd imagine that it's roughly contemporary with the Plaza and the Corner House.

Pages DIY, Station Road

Pages DIY, Talbot Road

This is a rather nice art deco building, on the same side of the road as the Plaza and the Customs House, a hundred yards or so further east. I'd guess that it would have been built within a couple of years of the Plaza and the Corner House. I like the tiles, I like the window and door framework. It's been repainted black, but it used to be red, and I think that looked better, which is why I've painted it like this. When I first moved here it was actually a Vauxhall cars dealership.

Taibach Library Acrylic on canvas board 12x10in

Taibach Library, Talbot Road

Carry on walking eastwards on the same side of the road and you'll pass my house, then the Talbot Memorial Park, and then you'll come to Taibach Library. Like many many towns and communities in South Wales, Taibach, which is this particular area of Port Talbot, benefitted from the bequest of scottish born philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, and Taibach library is a Carnegie Library. This actually makes it older than the Art Deco buildings on the same street, as it's about 100 years old.

Sadly Neath Port Talbot Council were forced to stop funding a number of libraries due to funding issues, but more positively it is kept open by a group of dedicated volunteers.

Taibach Rugby Club - Acrylic on canvas board 5x7 in

Taibach Rugby Club, Station Road

This rather impressive building is about 50 yards east of the Library, on the same side of the road. The road on the right of it is Commercial Road, which I believe was once home to film star Richard Burton. Incidentally, film star Sir Anthony Hopkins' dad once owned a shop between the library and the rugby club. Richard Burton is said to have on at least one return to the town to have popped into the rugby club for a drink, delighting in introducing all and sundry to Liz Taylor. True? Could well be.

Beulah Chapel, Toll Gate, Margam

Groes Beulah Chapel, Margam Road

The same road, the A48, becomes the Margam Road as it leaves Taibach and passes eastwards towards the M4 Motorway. When the M4 was built, it was decided to destroy what was, by all contemporary accounts, a rather charming village called Groes. The M4 could easily have been slightly diverted, but it wasn't. Grudgingly the council agreed to move the village's highly distinctive octagonal chapel to its current position just off the Margam Road. Even though it's octagonal in shape, the building is universally known as the Round Chapel.

Margam Castle - Charcoal on A4 paper

The A48 passes parallel to the M4, and passes the grounds of Margam Castle. Margam Castle was the home of the Mansel-Talbot family, who gave Port Talbot its name. It's a very impressive example of Victorian high gothic architecture, and also contains the ruins of the medieval Margam Abbey. The charcoal sketch I made was one of the first charcoal sketches I did, and I can't help feeling that it's rather more successful than the painting underneath.

Margam Park

Margam Castle, which is now part of Margam Park, is owned by the council, and on a fine day it's been the backdrop for many a good family day out. In the painting, on the hillside above the castle you can just about make up the ruined chapel of Saintes Fair.

Vivian Park Hotel Victoria Road

Vivian Park Hotel - Victoria Road Port Talbot

I find myself returning to the familiar theme here. The Afan Way is a busy dual carriageway road, built to take traffic fairly quickly out of Port Talbot towards Baglan and the M4 in the West, without them having to go through Aberavon, the old part of Port Talbot, and Sandfields, an estate built in the 50s. Victoria Road is the old road which passes through Aberavon and goes all the way to the seafront at Aberavon Beach. Victoria Road used to cross over the Afan Way, and the part where it did was known as Beach Hill. Quite some years ago now the decision was made to demolish Beach Hill and create a crossroads joining Victoria Road and Beach Hill.

The Vivian Park Hotel, in which my Mum and step dad stayed on several occasions, stood at the foot of Beach Hill. A few years ago it suffered a fire. Several people I know who inspected the building afterwards told me that the damage was pretty much cosmetic, and that the structure of the building wa sstill sound. didn't make much difference. It was condemned, knocked down, and another piece of Port Talbot's architectural heritage was gone forever.