The workmen's institute was designed by Jacob Rees of Pentre and erected in 1892 by the miners of Parc & Dare Collieries, with frontage to Station Street. Rees was a structural engineer with the Ocean Coal Co. at Cwmparc and later practised as an architect specialising in schools, chapel and workmen's halls. In 1913 a large theatre was erected behind the 1892 building with frontage to Dyfodwg Street. Now a theatre owned by Rhondda Cynon Taff Council. (DJP 27/03/2002)

The much larger 1913 hall and theatre was designed by T. Owen Rees and Jacob Rees, Pentre in a style influenced by the prevalent architecture of Welsh Nonconformist chapels of that time. The hall is of a much grander and more classical appearance than the original miner’s institute, and was constructed at a cost of £13,000 by contractor Albon Richards of Pentre

Listed at Grade II* as the grandest Workmen's Institute and Hall in the Rhondda with an outstanding facade and an early theatre retaining much of its original character.

Updated by M. Powel, RCAHMW. December 2023.

Sources: Cadw Listing Summary ref.18064; Park and Dare Theatre Heritage Impact Assessment (October 2023, Rural Office)