Wood Street Board School was designed by the architect George Robinson and built in 1878. The building was enlarged in 1891.

The area known as 'Temperance Town' was developed on reclaimed, after the river Taff was diverted in 1850 to make an available site for the new general railway station. The developer, Jacob Scott Matthews, leased land from Colonel Wood and completed the project by about 1864. The first building to be erected was the Temperance Hall. No public houses were allowed to be built, hence the name 'Temperance Town'. Much of this area has since been cleared and is now home to Cardiff's bus station and numerous other new buildings.