North Wales Heroes’ Memorial, Deiniol Road Bangor, Gatehouse Scheme

The scheme as built is not the design which obtained first place in open competition. Instead, the new design took the form of a Tudor style two-storey gateway constructed of ashlar masonry. Work commenced in 1922 and it was opened by HRH the Prince of Wales on 1 November 1923.

The memorial takes the form of a gateway measuring approximately 21 feet by 30 feet by 35 feet high. Exterior and interior walls of stone and marble facings, concrete floors and oak panelled ceilings [Manchester Guardian 15 June 1922 page 1]

This design illustrates the North Wales Heroes' Memorial now being erected at Bangor. The scheme is not the design which obtained first place in open competition. The Memorial Council, we are informed, were of opinion that the severe Greek character of the winning design would not harmonise with the University buildings, and it was decided that a gateway more in keeping with the present work should be erected at the corner of Ffordd Deiniol and Glanrafon Hill. The design has been kept simple, and the names of those in whose honour the memorial is being erected will be inscribed on oak panels carried round the walls of the memorial "Hall " on the first floor. The memorial is faced with Cefn stone; Roman stone paving to the ground floor; 24 in. square Sicilian marble slabs with a 2 inch border of Verde Antico to each square on the first floor; and coffered panelled ceilings in oak. The contractors are Messrs. John Laing & Son, Ltd., Liverpool. The Builder September 1922 page and illustration

This Memorial erected at Bangor was opened by HRH the Prince of Wales on 1 November (1923). The nature of the existing University Buildings, designed by the late Henry T Hare FRIBA determined the character of the design, which has been kept extremely simple. The main requirement was space for 8,200 names of the fallen from the six counties of North Wales. This is provided on oak panels in the Memorial Hall on the first floor. The archway has been erected at the corner of Deinol Road and Glanrafon Hill and a wide pathway leads from the gateway to the University. The exterior is of Cefn stone, The ceiling to the Memorial Hall is oak. [Architectural Review March 1924 page 98-99]

Reference    Manchester Guardian 15 June 1922 page 1 – contracts
Reference    Building News 25 August 1922 page 128 – tenders 
Reference    Builder 29 September 1922  page 447
Reference    Architectural Review Volume 55, March 1924 page 98-99 with photographs