Eglwys Dewi Sant, located in St Andrew's Crescent, was formerly the church of St Andrew, the former Welsh church in Howard Garden (NPRN 420646) having been destroyed by a bomb in the Second World War. The church was rededicated as Cardiff's church for services in Welsh in 1956.
The church was built in 1860 to designs of Pritchard and Seddon (1859). The original design (not followed) was cruciform with a crossing steeple and various experimental features, the most prophetic of which was the wide nave and low passage aisles, to enhance congregational participation. However, the building which actually occupies the site, while essentially that of Pritchard and Seddon, is drastically reduced in cost and ambition. Begun in 1860, on an eight-bay rectangular plan, it was halted at eaves level and the upper parts redesigned more cheaply. In 1862 the architect to the Bute Trustees, Alexander Roos, took over, and the church was consecrated in 1863. Further additions include low, double-gabled transepts with vestries, by Butterfield (1884-6), and porches on the north-west and south-west.
The style remains Early English, though simpler. Features of Pritchard and Seddon's original design include polychrome walls with local stones laid crazy-paving-wise ('popple stone'); ashlar dressings of Bath stone and low bands of coursed Newbridge Pennant sandstone; low passage aisles with the tall clerestory above; and deep, full-height buttresses which the original scheme would have required.
Source: J.Newman, Buildings of Wales: Glamorgan (1995), p.191-2

RCAHMW, 2 December 2014