Sidney Colwyn Foulkes

Sidney Colwyn Foulkes OBE FRIBA FILA AMTPI (1884-1971) was a Welsh architect, especially known for his architectural designs in Colwyn Bay, cinemas and council estates in North Wales. He was one of the first industrial landscape architects in Britain.

Foulkes next major paid commission as a designer and builder was the site of a former stables in the middle of Colwyn Bay. The property had been purchased by a Mr Jones, and he had asked Foulkes what could be done with the site. Foulkes had seen a moving picture show in a tent in Abergele, and drew up plans for a cinema and offices. This became the Cosy Cinema in 1910, and Foulkes occupied the offices above free of rent due to the quality of his workmanship.

He completed the course in 1916, with a distinction, and then joined the Royal Naval Air Service. He became Chief Petty Officer in the Aircraft Design Department at Crystal Palace. Foulkes also designed individual houses and several war memorials, including the Obelisk at Llandudno.

His first major project was for the Committee of the Colwyn Bay Cottage Hospital. The committee staged a competition for a new hospital, the Colwyn Bay and West Denbighshire Hospital, after initially asking Foulkes for assistance and for him to recommend the RIBA competition rules. Foulkes won the commission, and after his previous studies of material provided by RIBA, his design included the American-style centrally located sluices instead of the Florence Nightingale end sluice design for wards. At the end of the build the management committee presented a two-chime engraved carriage clock to Foulkes in 1925. Williams Deacon's Bank (Conwy Road) and Longmans Bookshop (7 Abergele Road]) in Colwyn Bay. During the 1930s Foulkes designed many cinemas across North Wales. This included the Rhos Playhouse, and the Regent in Rhyl. In 1937, his design for the Palace in Conwy won the Cinema of the Year Award. In the same year, he undertook the redesign and renovation of the Victoria Terrace, Beaumaris, which was sold off by the Beaumaris Corporation that year. In 1939 Foulkes was elected as a Fellow of RIBA, and became the President of the North Wales Society of Architects, a position he held until 1944. During World War II, he designed a factory for the Ministry of Aircraft Production in Llandudno Junction for Radcliffe Engineering. He designed further estates in Wrexham, Llanrwst and Rhos on Sea. Clough Williams-Ellis wrote in his autobiography of Foulkes' design: and Elwy Estate in Rhos on Sea in 1962 won a Civic Trust Award. Further architectural work after the war included the replacement for the Aberystwyth Town Hall, which had burnt down, and The Brecon Beacons Mountain Centre. Foulkes was recommended to the British Electricity Authority by Sir Patrick Abercrombie to be the landscape consultant for the extension of the Dolgarrog power station. His design won a Civil Trust Award. Foulkes was a member of the Council for the Protection of Rural Wales and of the Historic buildings council for Wales. Foulkes died on 2 April 1971 in Colwyn Bay. On his death Clough Williams-Ellis wrote:

Legacy

Colwyn Foulkes is commemorated by one of a series of 12 granite "postcards" embedded into the promenade at Colwyn Bay.

His building at 7, Abergele Road, Colwyn Bay is Grade II listed.

A planning application reported in October 2021 that a Foulkes-designed house on the corner of Marine Drive and College Avenue in Rhos on Sea should be demolished to make way for an apartment building and car parking resulted in calls for its preservation.