Drawing plans for the ground, first and second floor of a construction project at Penylan House, Cardiff, April-August 1987

Disgrifiad

Three drawing plans for the room designations, fire installation and emergency equipment for the ground, first and second floor of the Penylan House. The first- and second-floor drawings are labelled "as existing" whereas the ground floor drawing is labelled "as proposed". It seems likely that all drawings are from a similar date and from the same architecture company (possibly Hoggett Lock-Necrews Chartered Architects and Planning Consultants - assumption based on correspondence from that time) as the handwriting, the size of the paper, the type of pen and the 'Legend to Symbols' is consistent on all three. Additionally, it states on all three that they were drawn by 'PL'. Symbols used on all drawings include smoke detectors, alarm bells, hose reels, panic bolts and emergency exit lights.

Rooms labelled on the ground floor drawing are multiple large lounge areas, a therapy room, a quiet and writing room, the "lounge/synagogue", the general and Matron's office, the dry food store, the maintenance workshop and the "garages/morgue". Additions have been made in different handwriting using a different pen and correction fluid.

The first-floor drawing labels many rooms such as ten sick bays, a sluice, a treatment room, many bathrooms, fourteen bedrooms, a passenger lift, the matron store and the residential staff flat.

The second-floor drawing labels 27 bedrooms (some of which are larger so may be double rooms), many bathrooms and toilets, the staffroom and the hairdressers. Again, changes have been made using a different pen and correction fluid.

Pencare (formerly known as 'The Trustees of Penylan House') is a charity, which offers care for elderly people of the Jewish faith and is currently based in Cardiff, although the catchment area for the home covers South Wales and the West of England. Pencare has been working with Linc Cymru to redevelop their care home, Penylan House, to ensure high quality care to Cardiff's elderly Jewish community and extending the care to elderly people not of the Jewish faith.

Mr Henry Silver and other members of the Cardiff Jewish community had originally founded a Home for the Aged in 1946 in Canton. In December 1948, the Home moved to Holme Towers in Penarth to provide more space for its large number of applications. Despite the beautiful surroundings, the Home in Penarth was quite isolated, so the difficult decision was later taken to move the Home to Penylan Road in Cardiff, meaning many residents were now closer to their friends and relatives. Residents moved to Penylan House in February 1959.

Sources:
http://opencharities.org/charities/243968;
http://www.housingcare.org/downloads/facilities/generated-brochures/134508-penylan-house-nursing-home-cardiff-wales.pdf;
Cajex, Magazine of the Association of Jewish Ex-service Men and Women (Cardiff), Vol. IX, No. 1, Ninth Year - March 1959, pp. 60- 65.

Depository: Glamorgan Archives.