Pages DIY
54-56 Talbot Road, SA13 1HU
Built by December 1921 as Oscar Chess Show Room ‘Oscar Chess Motor House’, the company originally based in Kenfig Hill from at least 1912 opened a second premises in Port Talbot.
Photos from the time show cars for sale lined up outside the building on the wide pavement.
The building was extended on the side by 1940 and later clad in glazed tiles, similar to those on the Plaza Cinema.
For much of its life the building has been associated with car sales Oscar Chess disappear from newspaper listings after January 1977, with a Vauxhall car showroom opening from 1979.
By the 1990 the building was occupied by Pages DIY who moved from a site at the rear of a residential property in Grove Place. The building has seen few alterations over the years, the original folding doors to allow cars in the showroom are still in situ.
Some of the original stained glass has been removed in recent years, but a few panes still survive.
Pages DIY still trade from the building and a series of outbuildings to the side and rear making it a deceptively large site.
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Notes from BLI Schedule:
Address:
56 Talbot Road, Port Talbot
Description:
Largely original 1930s commercial building with Art Deco elements including flat roofs and
contrasting tiling frontage and stained glass within traditional shopfronts.
Justification for Consideration:
A distinctive and interesting building with links to the Grade II Listed Plaza Cinema as the buildings share the same faience tiles that were added during the 1940’s.
Almost all of its original stained-glass windows have been retained on the ground floor.
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