Mount Stuart Square
View of Mount Stuart Square on its northern side, including Empire House, a Grade II* Listed Building, and St Line House
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 Location within Cardiff
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| Maintained by | Cardiff Council |
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| Location | Cardiff, Wales |
| Postal code | CF10 |
| Coordinates | 51°27′57″N 3°10′05″W / 51.465825°N 3.168174°W |
| North | West Close |
| East | West Bute Street |
| South | A4119 James Street |
| West | Glamorganshire Canal |
| Construction | |
| Completion | c. 1855 |
Mount Stuart Square is a residential and commercial square in Cardiff, Wales. It is located in the Butetown area of the city. Originally developed in the late 1800s as a residential location for nearby dock workers, it quickly became a centre for upscale residential properties which revolved around the main square. By 1900, commercial activity had taken its place, dominated by the Coal Exchange, which occupied the once open central space. The square contains a high concentration of listed buildings, which represent a range of architectural styles and some of Cardiff's finest examples of late 19th and early 20th Century commercial architecture. Mount Stuart Square area was designated a Conservation Area in July 1980.
Mount Stuart Square is an urban area, bordered by the A4119 James Street, a major road to the south, early twentieth century social housing to the north (on a site which had previously been used as a rail yard), historic commercial properties to the west on West Bute Street, and the historic Glamorganshire Canal to the east. The canal was drained in December 1951 when a steam suction dredger crashed into the inner lock gates, forcing them to collapse, and all the water was released into the estuary. The gates were never repaired, and for a number of years the canal remained dry until the land was filled in and converted to parkland, named Canal Park. The square lies approximately half a mile to the south of Loudoun Square, which was also built as a residential square but never developed a commercial hub. Junctions with James Street and West Bute Street provide vehicular access to the square, and pedestrian access exists to the parkland to the west. The square has a one way traffic system, where vehicles enter at the junction with James Street to the south west, and exit via either James Street or West Bute Street. Mount Stuart Square has a distinctive form with buildings on four sides facing the Cardiff Coal Exchange building in the centre. It is not a square in the true sense because the building area was limited by the physical restrictions of the canal to the west. The nearest railway station is Cardiff Bay.
The development of Mount Stuart Square is closely linked to that of the coal industry in South Wales. The mining of coal in the South Wales valleys in the 1790s onwards meant that Cardiff developed into a port through which the coal was shipped and exported worldwide. It was initially transported using the Glamorganshire Canal, and later by rail on the Taff Vale Railway, both of which terminated close to the site of the square. A number of docks were constructed to facilitate the movement of this coal, and the entire Butetown area of Cardiff was transformed to accommodate the new industry. By the 1830s, Cardiff became the pre-eminent iron-exporting port, shipping almost half of British overseas iron exports; between 1840 and 1870, the volume of coal exports increased from 44,350 to 2.219 million tonnes. The population of the area increased accordingly, and a grid pattern residential suburb for port-related workers was built on land which included the site of the square.
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