The building was divided into two floors with the ground floor containing the seamen’s institute and reading room. The first floor held a church for seamen.
The Seamen’s Institute was formally opened in 1891 and the Church was dedicated to All Souls by the Bishop of Llandaff.

In the 1950s the building was occupied by the analytical chemists, Treharne & Davies Ltd and renamed Merton House.

It was demolished in April 1987 as a part of the Bay redevelopment.