The Marquess of Bute envisaged Butetown with all classes - clerks, labourers and merchants - living and working together. The Marquess mainly leased plots for new housing to others, but he laid out the roads, sewers, and drainage. New houses were to be much better than the crowded courts and tenements within the old town and the tall town houses of Mount Stuart Square and Loudoun Square were amongst the most graceful in Cardiff.
But as transport improved with regular services to the Pierhead richer people moved to elegant new villas on the edge of town.
The transformation of Mount Stuart Square into offices was accelerated by the building of the Coal Exchange in the middle of the square.
The properties around Loudoun Square tended towards conversion to boarding houses - temporary accommodation for seamen from all over the world between voyages. Pubs and other establishments followed the seamen’s money, and the multi-cultural Tiger Bay was born. It was said that there were people of at least 50 nationalities.
The rows of terraced houses developed nearer the docks entrance were largely occupied by dock workers or workers in the shops and offices of the commercial centre of Butetown.
