History

The hotel at Portmeirion was originally the mansion of Aber Iâ and the site of the present village, together with its dramatic wooded setting, formed a small estate around the house. It was built c1850 and was described in 1861 as:` one of the most picturesque of all the summer residences to be found on the sea-coast of Wales.' The house and estate were bought by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis in 1925 and formed the focus of the Portmeirion village, conceived and designed by him between 1925 and his death in 1978. The newly restored hotel was opened in 1926, and included a new 3-storey wing added to the W, one of the first of CWE's designs to be executed on this site. In 1930 a new single-storey dining room addition was erected, with later additions of 1935.

In June 1981 the hotel was tragically gutted by fire. Its subsequent restoration, however, has successfully recreated the hotel in the spirit of its pre-fire days; it reopened in 1988. Amongst the many of CWE's celebrated guests at the hotel and its associated village structures were Noel Coward, Kenneth Clark, George Bernard Shaw, Bertrand Russell and Frank Lloyd Wright.

Exterior

Victorian former country house, now a large hotel; of rendered rubble construction with slate roofs, fish-scale patterned to the primary part; this also has seven chimneys with grouped Gothic-style terracotta stacks. The original house is of 2-storeys and consists of a principal H-plan section with a subsidiary section of inverted F-plan adjoining to the SW; gables with projecting eaves and plain bargeboards. The main block has a 5-bay eastern (sea-facing) elevation, with bays 2 and 5 projecting as gabled crosswings. These have arched windows with plain 2-pane sashes to the first floor, each with moulded label; bay 2 has a square-headed similar sash with returned, moulded label, whilst bay 5 has a single-storey canted bay with arched, plain-glazed windows. The recessed third and fourth bays have labelled sashes to the upper floor and a large flat-roofed bow window to the ground floor, a C20 addition; this with tall 2-part windows. The recessed first bay, to the S, has a similar arched first floor sash with an entrance to the ground floor via a decorative iron porch with sloped metal canopy.

The entrance elevation, facing N, is of 3 bays, with a canted single-storey porch to the right-hand bay. This has an arched entrance with plain glazed doors and segmental overlight; plain round-headed windows to the canted returns. Arched sash windows with labels to both floors; large mural by Hans Feibusch to the first floor, between bays 1 and 2 and below a flush lateral chimney. Adjoining to the S is a bowed, single-storey, flat-roofed restaurant addition with rectangular bay beyond; cross-windows throughout. The southern section of the hotel comprises two C20 4-storey additions, with rendered elevations and hipped slate roofs; the northern-most of the two is set back slightly. 12-pane sashes and 16-pane, 2-part casements under the eaves to the upper floor; all have external wooden slatted shutters. The southern elevation, facing the Observatory Tower, has a depressed arch to the exposed rubble ground floor and a multi-pane window to the first floor above with decorative wrought iron balcony; small-pane, 2-part casements with shutters to the second and third floors.

Facing the sea immediately in front of the hotel (to the E) is a Victorian revetted terrace. This has turned balustrading and classical surmounting statuary.

Interior

The interiors have been restored following the fire of 1981.

Reasons for Listing

Listed as a mid C19 former mansion, from 1925 the focus of Sir Clough Williams-Ellis's visionary Portmeirion villiage.

Group value with other listed items at Portmeirion.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Portmeirion Hotel at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q29484441

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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