Bangor has perhaps the finest of all university buildings in Wales. The original Main Building was built between 1907 and 1911 by the London architect Henry T. Hare after he beat J. Francis Doyle, A. Marshall Mackenzie, and Arnold Mitchell in an architectural competition run by the University after it had acquired the prominent sky-line site in 1903. The winning design drew on Hare's Beaux-Arts experience as a student in Paris, but was never fully realised as the original budget was halved and Hare had to reduce his plans.The contractors were Messrs Thornton & Sons of Liverpool, with metalwork by William Bainbridge Reynolds of London. The Foundation Stone was laid by Edward II on 9 July 1907, the inscription in Welsh and Latin, and the building was officially opened 14 June 1911 by George V. The plans to raise more funds for Hare to complete his plans were delayed by the First World War, and Hare died in 1921. The planned quadrangle complex was finally completed in the 1960s under the hand of Percy Thomas & Son. A library extension was completed in 1963 form the south-west wing of the western quad, and a Arts and Humanities teaching wing on the north-west side in 1968 completed the complex.
The resulting building is in a "Collegiate Tudor" style based on the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Durham with Arts and Crafts influences. The buildings are grouped around a courtyard, the fulcrum being a massive square tower which has a bell stage on each face with two tall traceried windows and niches that contain statues of St David, Owain Gwynedd, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd and Owain Glyndw'r. The picturesque feeling is enhanced by the building's prominent site, its landscaping and the quality of the building materials, including fine sandstone facing, pale Preseli slates, and floors and stairs of Hopton Wood stone. The stone carving is by Lawrence Turner. The library range includes the Shankland Library, which has bare stone walls and a shallow timber barrel vault with plaster panels. High and deep bookcases project inwards between the windows and are linked across the aisle by archways in carved wood under luxurious scrolled pediments. the 1963 Libraray wing is built as a Modernist cuboid; of concrete framing clad in local stone blocks to match the earlier scheme. The upper floors have massive horizontal, steel-framed, windows seperated by light terrazzo panels. The main entrance has a cantilevered slab portico. The 1968 extension is Brutalist in style, with a bush hammered concrete frame, steel-framed glazing and a trapezoidal roof. Along most of the external elevation the upper three storeys are supported by pilotis allowing access to the quad.The north corner incorporates a curtain wall of Welsh slate.
There is a later twentieth century bust of John Morris-Owen by R. L. Gapper.
Source: Haslam, Orbach and Voelcker (2009), The Buildings of Wales: Gwynedd. Pevsner Architectural Guide, page 247-8.
RCAHMW, October 2009 / Updated January 2025