Not the best looking building around.
Placed just inside the Swansea University Singleton campus. This cache is an easy one to look for and find.
The old building close to it is The Abbey. The nucleus of the house is a neo-classical villa, octagonal in plan, erected in 1784 under the name of Marino by Edward King, a customs official. In 1817 this was bought by the industrialist John Henry Vivian, who added rectangular one-bay extensions to either side. In 1823 Vivian commissioned the architect P. F. Robinson to re-model the house in the neo-gothic style. Work started in 1827, and a decade later Robinson published Domestic Architecture in the Tudor Style, a monograph in all but name on Singleton Abbey. The house then served as residence of the Vivian family for several years.
The house survives, with limited losses, much as it appears in the engraved plates of the book. The back stairs, on the axis of the south front, and the ground-floor room in the centre of the south front, with a bowed inner end, survive from the original house of 1784.
In 1919 the 2nd Lord Swansea sold Singleton Abbey to Swansea Corporation. In 1920 the Corporation rented and in 1923 sold the house and the nucleus of the estate to the University College of Swansea, which made the Abbey its headquarters. Still in use by the University as an admisistration building today.
The Abbey’s Grade II listed terrace dates from the era of Sarah Vivian, John Henry Vivian’s wife (1830s). A talented gardener, much of her work is still in evidence today and continues to influence the restoration work conducted by the University.
One of the most noteworthy features of the Abbey terrace is the large magnolia tree. Through the decades, it was a student tradition that if the tree had begun to flower and you were not revising for your summer examinations, then you were in trouble!
The grounds surrounding the Abbey are intrinsically linked to the University's heritage, contributing to the biodiversity of the parkland in which they are set. This stunning open space offers views over the Abbey meadow and Swansea Bay itself and is open for the local community to visit and enjoy. The landscaping and planting is designed to be sympathetic to how the gardens would have been laid out in the Abbey's prime, while still encompassing a vibrant welcoming campus atmosphere.