There are so many wonderfully ornate and elaborate Victorian stations dotted around South Wales, they really are a legacy of a massive investment in splendour, that the Victorians did so well.
I especially like the growth of sea-side stations such as Barry Island that grew off the back off city dwellers flocking to the coast.
My favourite building at the moment is the old Art College in Newport (S.Wales) it's been derelict for years and years and now has some scaffolding and netting around it - hopefully to be re-developed but likely to be just gypsies stealing the ornate copper flashings from the roof.
I love the building because it reminds me that once upon a time someone thought that Newport was worthy of having both a grand railway station and a grand college. It's so ace, it even has a dome which really is the true test of a building's architectural prowess. Fact.
Newport Old Art College(Due to my Luddite status I'm not sure how to 'do' images - so that might work?)
Being of the construction type, I was lucky enough to be involved in a project for the redevelopment of Ebbw Vale steelwork's old Works Office - walking around the derelict offices taking photos and having a poke around was one of the best days in work ever. The site at the peak of its production was colossal, it employed about 80,000 people. (Who all used to get paid in cash by the way!)
Thankfully the plan is currently to turn it into a museum type place rather than fancy dan
flats apartments like everything else these days.
The trouble is, these old abandoned buildings are just so expensive to refurbish when compared to the cost of a new build of a similar size. Redevelopment of an old building relies so much on reusing what is there. The existing internal layout (stair cores, lift shafts etc.) eventually becomes a burden. Changes in building regulations (in terms of level access and fire safety) mean that the size, shape, orientation of a building prohibits an economic development. There's a point where it is simply cheaper and easier to tear the old building down (!), throw up a steel frame, clad it and fit it out to the layout that suits your needs. It really is a cost driven decision.
Edited for that dodgy link and some bad grammar!