The Memorial Hall, 1921-25

Christopher Moule (CR, Head of Academic Scholars, Head of History)

‘as near to the American campus style of the same years as anything this side of the Atlantic’ (Pevsner and Cherry 1975)

Marlborough was entirely typical of public schools – large and small – in wishing to construct a major memorial to those pupils and staff who were killed in World War One. Indeed, there was of course a spectacular outpouring of memorials in all different shapes and sizes up and down the land: every village has one, and (probably) every institution, because the war touched every place and every institution. I suspect there was something of a competition between public schools for war memorials which were dignified, appropriate, and of suitable scale. A book, detailing school war memorials, was published in 1927; by this time there were certainly many spectacular examples.

Discussions about a memorial were already in progress during the War. After the War, Lieutenant-Colonel W.G.Newton (himself an old Marlburian) was chosen as the architect (and indeed he was the College’s architect for the next two decades).

Initially some believed a cloister would be appropriate (this is what the famous architect Herbert Baker built at Winchester College). But at Marlborough it was decided that a building with a clear function would be more appropriate. Finally, an assembly hall was agreed upon. Other schools built classroom blocks, for instance Taunton, where the science block is a war memorial.

Though village war memorials sometimes took the form of Gothic or Celtic crosses, and though some schools employed other kinds of architecture (like Taunton’s Tudor science block), most war memorials (including Newton’s) are classical in style. I don’t know of a modernist war memorial built after World War One (as opposed to later ones), though the kind of classicism favoured in the 1920s tends to be pared down and simplified, and often hints at modernism (an example of this is the brilliant ‘Cenotaph’, London’s main war memorial, designed by the great architect Lutyens).

Newton’s initial design was for a larger hall (seating around 1250), but not enough money was raised in the subscription, so he scaled it back. Moreover, the watery ground on the Kennet floodplain posed further challenges.

He built his scaled-back version on a concrete raft, but most of what’s visible is brick (typical of Marlborough, which is in the heart of a stoneless area) and York stone (which is completely atypical).

Its classical architecture

Newton’s building is based on classical theatres. Here is a plan of the theatre of the Roman city of Aspendos, built in the 2nd century. It’s clearly similar to Mem Hall.

This is typical of a Roman theatre (the most perfect Greek ones, eg Epidaurus, tend to have a (relatively) smaller – and more open – scaenae and the seating area often exceeds a semi-circle).

The austere lettering of the names of the 749 is also Roman in style and spirit.

However, the façade of Mem Hall is more strikingly ‘Greek’ than Roman, due to its simplicity and the use of the Ionic order rather than the Corinthian (which was usually preferred in Roman theatres).

The Ionic order is associated with Ionia, across the Aegean from Athens in the Greek lands along the Anatolian coast. The most famous ancient temple in that area was the temple of Artemis at Ephesus (6th century BC). It’s very ruined now, but here’s a model in Istanbul, and you can compare it with Mem Hall’s façade.

Mem Hall’s details are heavy, dignified, and simple. This is in tune with the better classical buildings of the 1920s across North America, Europe and colonial centres like Delhi. There’s nothing that foreshadows Newton’s strikingly modern Science Blocks at Marlborough (right next door – what a contrast!) or Radley.

It’s a fine building, but there were problems: the acoustic was appalling and the service spaces (especially around the stage) pokey and not very functional. The recent refurbishment by the celebrated Canadian architect Jack Diamond has made Mem Hall ‘state of the art’ and far improved these shortcomings. A long Financial Times article celebrated Diamond’s involvement: Marlborough’s architecture recently made international news!

The great architectural historian Pevsner compared Mem Hall with university campus buildings in the States. I don’t know much about these, but look at the Low Memorial Library (Columbia University, 1895), and the (rhyming) Doe Memorial Library (Berkeley University, 1911). (There are memorials for benefactors, not war dead!).

Quadrangle and Rose Garden, also Newton, and contemporary (ie early 1920s)

I feel that the ‘landscaping’ around the Mem Hall is at least as impressive as the hall itself. There’s the quandrangle immediately in front of the hall, stunningly paved in red, with a fountain in the centre (now filled in); a grand staircase up to the Chapel; and the Rose Garden in the dip between the Chapel and the Mound.

The formality and grandeur of the paved quadrangle and staircase matches the formal gardens popular in Edwardian times. It’s neatly done, though I don’t think the staircase really suits the Chapel with its noble Gothic façade more romantically amid trees at the top of it… the respective mood of the two monuments – one of them Gothic, romantic and Victorian, the other open, classical, international – contrasts strongly. Never mind: both are very fine.

But I think the Rose Garden is a great creation, with great dignity and beauty. Newton’s design roughly follows the design of the chapel above, with an eastern ‘apse’. But the greatest moment is at its understated entrance. There’s a small off-centre ‘gatehouse’, connecting the larger formality of the hall and its quadrangle with the intimacy of the valley garden. It has a Greek inscription which translates as ‘Within this quiet garden-close, Though o`er all lands our graves lie spread, Still do we live and walk with those Whose thoughts are with the dead’, and a nearby pergola stands along the west end of the garden, like a church’s entrance. The Rose Garden is an amazing place to be, even by Marlborough’s high standards: apart from its intrinsic beauty and atmosphere, it is towered over by two first-rate religious monuments, of very different kind: the great Neolithic Mound (whose function is completely mysterious) and the great Victorian chapel (whose function is completely understood!).

Appendix: for contrast

Like Marlborough’s hall, the Memorial Cloisters at Winchester College had to be scaled back from its original plan (which included a hall) because of lack of funds. But it’s said to be the largest private war memorial in Europe, and also has a garden designed by Gertrude Jekyll, the most famous gardener of the day.