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The Memorial Garden was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, an accomplished British memorialist, who also worked on other war memorials in London as well as designing and building the capital of India at New Delhi. In designing the Memorial Garden, Lutyens focused on creating spaces which emphasized classical symmetry and formality. Lutyens, in constructing the garden, focused on creating separate spaces each with a distinct “mood,” not really operating symbiotically as a whole but attempting instead to make his audience “feel.” There are four main spaces of the park: the sunken rose garden, the north terrace, the avenues and the Central Lawn of the park. Of particular note is the War Stone, which is constructed out of Irish granite as Lutyens loved to use local materials in his creations. Also located in the Central Lawn are the bookrooms which are also constructed out of Irish granite. In these two bookrooms, which symbolize the four provinces of Ireland, are the books of remembrance in which the names of the 49,000 soldiers who died fighting in the war are inscribed. (1) (2) (3)
(1) Irish Defenese Forces. “History of Irish National War Memorial Gardens.” History of War Memorial Garden. Irish Defense Forces, n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2016.
(2) Wikipedia Contributors. “Edwin Lutyens.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Dec. 2016. Web. 16 Dec. 2016.)