Main

Cardiff University's Main Building - an interior view.

In 1905, architect William Douglas Caroe (1857 – 1938) commenced building work on the Main Building, & it was completed in many stages, the first in 1909. Money ran short for this project, however, & although the side-wings were completed in the 1960's, the planned Great Hall has never been built. Caroe sought to combine the charm & elegance of his former college (Trinity College, Cambridge) with the picturesque balance of many of the University of Oxford colleges.

Caroe became known as "a consummate master of building according to medieval precedent". The firm he founded, Caroe & Partners, still flourishes, specialising in ecclesiastical architecture, especially the restoration of historic churches.