The Carmarthen Public Rooms were built in 1854. The intention to create public rooms were first expressed by Dr David Lloyd

David Lloyd

David Lloyd may refer to:*David Lloyd , chief justice of colonial Pennsylvania*David Lloyd Welsh cleric and translator*David Lloyd , British tenor...

 in 1839

Commonly referred to as the "Assembly Rooms" the building was designed by James Wilson (architect)

James Wilson (architect)

James Wilson was a prominent Victorian architect practising in Bath, Somerset and partner in the firm Wilson & Willcox.On 12 January 1843 he married Maria Buckley of Llanelli, and in 1846 they had a son, James Buckley Wilson, who followed his father to also became an architect.-List of Buildings:*St...

 of Bath  on the site of the Scurlock family town house, where Sir Richard Steele, founder of The Spectator, died in 1729. The site was occupied by The Ivy Bush inn until c1801, and was then premises of the Timmins family, timber merchants.

The Assembly Rooms had a 5-bay, 2-storey Italianate stucco facade with balustraded parapet, cornice, arched first floor windows between paired pilasters, and channelled ground floor with recessed sash windows and centre door.

In 1918 an article appeared in the Carmarthen Journal

Carmarthen Journal

The Carmarthen Journal is a newspaper founded in 1810 in Wales and now based in Carmarthen, the county town of Carmarthenshire, Wales. Published by Northcliffe Media, the regional newspaper arm of one of Europe's largest media companies, Daily Mail and General Trust, the building housing the...

stating that in future the Carmarthen 'Assembly Rooms' were to be called 'The Lyric'.