
Buildings of Distinction - Portmeirion
Feb, 14 2025
Quaint, unique and picturesque just some of the words that can best describe the unusual Italian village in Wales better known by many as Portmeirion.
Please watch this 5 minute 28 second film as an introduction to this month’s ‘Buildings of Distinction’- Don’t feel obliged to subscribe or leave a comment at the end -
As mentioned in the film, Portmeirion was the basis for the filming location of hit TV show ‘The Prisoner’ but it was also a hit location for –
- The Beatles
- Jools Holland’s show ‘The Tube’
- The inaugural music Festival No6
- 1960 Danger Man episode ‘View from the Villa’
- A Doctor Who story in 1976 titled ‘The Masque of Mandragora’
- Scenes for TV series Cold Feet in 2002
- Music videos – Altered Images and Siouxsie and the Banshees
So you can see how inviting and impressive it has been for those within the media and music as the ideal location for filming.
Architecture critic Lewis Mumford devoted a large part of a chapter of his 1963 book The Highway and the City to Portmeirion, which he called:-
“…an artful and playful little modern village, designed as a whole and all of a piece ... a fantastic collection of architectural relics and impish modern fantasies. ... As an architect, [Williams-Ellis] is equally at home in the ancient, traditional world of the stark Welsh countryside and the once brave new world of "modern architecture."
Mumford referred to the architecture as both romantic and picturesque in Baroque form, "with tongue in cheek." He described the total effect as "relaxing and often enchanting" with "playful absurdities" that are "delicate and human in touch", making the village a "happy relief" from the "rigid irrationalities and the calculated follies" of the modern world.
The houses Anchor, Arches, the hotel building, Lady's Lodge, the inside of the Pantheon and the vaulted ceiling of Gate House are decorated with murals and frescoes by the Frankfurt-born artist and friend of Clough Williams-Ellis Hans Feibusch.
For further information simply visit the following website link –
Whether you intend to visit for the day, stay over a week, eat the fine dining, get married, celebrate in style or arrange an important business meeting and conference – Portmeirion can cater for all. You will feel relaxed in the dreamlike environment as you drift off into an imaginative land. It’s the perfect location for that essential escapist break if you sometimes feel like ‘The Prisoner’.
Portmeirion Town Hall is a grade I listed building, incorporating stonework and the Hercules Hall from the demolished Emral Hall in Flintshire. Many other buildings and structures within the village have their own listings.
So why travel to Italy when the picturesque village of Portmeirion is only either a car or train journey down to Wales. In the heat of the summer you can convince yourself you are abroad, sipping champagne and being in a world of pure imagination.
^Alex Ashworth CCG UK Blogger