87668

 

II  

Designated  

27/11/2013  

 

Hole in the Wall  

Overton Road (B5069)  

Wrexham  

Bangor is-y-Coed  

 

Bangor-on-Dee  

338890  

344911  

 

 

Domestic  

Modern  

Hole in the Wall is a one off house designed for himself by the architect J.B. Davies. John Brian Davies was born in 1928 and studied architecture at Liverpool University before being employed at a practice in Regent Street in Wrexham. He later joined Denbighshire County Council before it became part of Clywd County Council during the reorganisation of local authorities in 1973. He worked for Clwyd CC until retirement in the late 1980s. Davies was responsible for some major local authority projects in the Clwyd area at a time when there was a substancial state funded educational building programme. During the 1960s he designed Yale College in Wrexham and then Argoed High School in Mold. In 1983 he was project architect for Aston College, a new teaching block for the North East Wales Institute in Wrexham and the following year designed extensions to Yale College. Hole in the Wall was built in 1973, although planning permission had been applied for in October 1970 when Davies was living in Morgan Avenue in Rhosddu. It is designed in a Modernist style and is a reflection of the architect's own attention to detail and adoption of new styles, materials and methods of construction. It reflects the growing importance in the post-war period of imported house plans, particuarly from Scandinavia and the United States of America. It also displays key elements of the modern movement of architecture: the careful development of a considered plan which incorporates flowing internal spaces with defined functions and in articular inter-connects internal and outside spaces; the open display of expressionistic qualities of the chosen construction material and the development of a modern picturesque where the house sits within carefully controlled landscaping. The house alos displays an intimacy of scale and is intensely private, reflecting the design by Davies as a family home for him and his wife. There is close attention to detail and carefullness of finish which is a common theme of his wider wok. The name 'Hole in the Wall' comes from the hole that had to be created in a brick wall that lines Overton Road and directions to go tho the 'hole in the wall' were given to delivery drivers during the construction of the house.  

The house is set within landscaped grounds which relect the architectural language of the house. Besoke metal entrance gates on Overton Road open onto a long drive to a courtyard with entrance to the house almost hidden; boarded gates lead to the garage ab rear of the house. The house is screened from view by careful planting within the garden and by its alignment to the entrance and the approach. The extent of the house is only apparent from the lawned area of the garden which the main elevation overlooks. It is a long low single storey structure combining fair faced brick and glazed panels laid out in horizontal and vertical lines and falt sufaces: the projecting wide timber clad roof canopy provides the main visual character and controls the vertical elements of the house underneath, compising full height glazing with exposed framing and faced brick. The main garden elevation is primarily glazed, allowing the main space of the house in the living room to receive maximum light. There is a cut-out in the corner of this wall at the left hand end and a connecting screen wall that ties the house to the outdoor space of the terrace and swimming pool. The right hand functional end of the house that contains the kitchens and bedrooms is divided by a slim brick pier and has low brick walls with glazing above. The rear or entrance elevation is a solid brick wall that is carried beyond its junction with the side walls and is broken only by the two entrance doors (one outside garage gates and another inside) and a door for the boiler room. Adjacent to the house at the rear us the garage and workshop block in the same style and materials as the house.  

The house is divided into two with an open plan living room at the western end with a small snug room at the extreme end. To the east are the functional rooms of the house with a central top lit bathroom and toilet, a gallery kitchen to the garden side with original fittings and a hallway to the entrance side leading ti both doors around a small study. The two bedrooms are at the east end off a corridor linking the entrance hall with the kitchen. Along with this plan form, the interior retains many of the original fittings and finishes, such as built stoage units, exposed brickwork and tounge and groove ceiling linings. Along with this plan form the interior retains many of the original fittings and finishes, such as exposed brick walling throughout, the units and equipment in the gallery kitchen, the brick fireplace wall in the living room, original doors, floor surfaces and light fittings.  

Included for its special architectual interest as a fine and exceptionally well-preserved example of a 1970s private house and the associated stuctures (as described above) within its grounds that clearly illustrate the main themes of post-war Modernism in its expressive use of materials and handling of space. The careful, considered and tightly defined use of this architectural language clearly demonstrates the development of the discipline of architecture in the second half of the 20th Century.