Portmeirion, 1969

Description

View of Portmeirion, taken in 1969.
Portmeirion was designed and laid out by the celebrated architect Sir Clough Williams-Ellis (1883-1978) following his purchase of the estate, then called Aber Iâ, in 1926. It is a deliberately created village which evolved over several decades and was still being added to in the 1970s. The village, built in and around a small valley opening on to the shore, consists of a hotel and cottages, with shops and public buildings, arranged around a central open square which is laid out as a public garden. It is of one period (mid twentieth century), but is stylistically diverse, incorporating architectural elements from a wide range of periods and from several countries. Due to the steeply-sloping nature of the site most of the buildings are displayed to advantage on the hillside. For this reason the village is best viewed from the sea, whence the site was first seen by its creator, Clough Williams-Ellis.
The buildings are a collection of architectural fantasies created by Williams-Ellis. Portmeirion is often described as 'Italianate', but this is neither an accurate nor a sufficient description. The style is in fact a mixture of many different elements which happened to appeal to Williams-Ellis, and some of the buildings, or parts of them, were imported from elsewhere and re-erected here. A 'Home for Fallen Buildings' was maintained, where architectural fragments and parts of buildings were kept until they could be incorporated into some new structure. The original mid-nineteenth century house, Aber-Ia, and its outbuildings were also retained and converted. The surreal character of the village, from which much of its magic originates, is largely due to the buildings, but the luxuriant growth of plants, particularly flowering shrubs, completes the exotic atmosphere.