'A vision of Italy' in Wales's beloved architectural 'salvage' village

It's one of the most distinctive locations in Britain. Portmeirion sits on a Welsh estuary, shielded by a peninsula from the worst of the Atlantic weather that drives wind and rain over Ireland and up the Celtic Sea. 

In this secluded location emerged a collection of buildings, in a process that began a hundred years ago. Portmeirion is a development that aims to be both beautiful and environmentally sensitive. 

The architect was Clough Williams-Ellis. A former World War I intelligence officer in the British Army, he had a vision – and established his dream in this corner of the British Isles, where his father was from.

"Portmeirion is a fantasy in a way – it was Clough's fantasy, it was his work of art," says his grandson Robin Llywelyn, who as Portmeirion's managing director sees himself as a custodian of that vision. 

"This was where he had his freedom," Llywelyn continues. "He was an architect on other projects, but at Portmeirion, he was his own master – master of works, the foreman and the architect… he could do whatever he liked here – and he had a great time playing with the place."

Joy in architectural playfulness 

That joy is evident to anyone who sees Portmeirion. Williams-Ellis worked for over half a century to piece together a village that has been described as Italianate, and yet has many other architectural styles too. He called it a "home for fallen buildings". 

The pastel-colored facades are said to be inspired by Portofino in Italy, but this is no wholesale cultural copy-and-paste. Squirreled away in hidden corners of the 280,000 square meter site are an assortment of rescued pieces from demolished British mansions. 

Parts of buildings were often salvaged from other areas such as Bristol, Liverpool and Flintshire. They were then reassembled and re-purposed in distinctive styles to combine esthetics with Mediterranean, arts and crafts, Georgian, baroque and Gothic styles. They were then presented as a playful and surreal "village" setting.

"Clough was a bit of a magpie – he liked to collect architectural salvage," says Llywelyn. "He had a dump in the woods where he would put interesting bits and pieces of architecture, statues, but he also wanted to protect buildings that were being imperilled and might have been demolished."

"Everything that Portmeirion embodies in Clough Williams-Ellis, what he achieved at Portmeirion, celebrates history," says Dr Peter Lindfield, an architectural historian at Cardiff University's School of Architecture.

"It was buying architecture and buildings, and building materials on the cheap, which you could use to assemble this vision of Italy."

Enhancing the natural 

While Williams-Ellis was keen to combine disparate architectural elements, he also wanted them to work with the local landscape. Each view has been carefully crafted to reveal buildings, gardens and the Dwyryd estuary. 

"He wanted to show that you could build on a natural site and enhance the natural surroundings, as he had experienced on the coast of Amalfi and Liguria," says Robin Llywelyn. "He called it his 'light opera' approach to architecture." 

Portmeirion was built in two stages. Between 1925 and the outbreak of World War II, the site was laid out and some of its most distinctive buildings were erected. Then, between 1954 and 1977 Williams-Ellis erected more buildings, typically in the classical style. 

The Hotel Portmeirion officially opened for the Easter Weekend in 1926. The last building, the Tollgate, was completed a year before his death at the age of 94. 

Centenary celebrations 

As it celebrates its centenary with concerts and other events, Portmeirion is a tourism attraction, as much as an architectural experiment and an occasional film set. 

"Without changing the village, we have to change maybe the way that people perceive the village – by offering good food and doing events here as well," says Portmeirion's location manager Meurig Jones. 

"Clough didn't want Portmeirion to become a museum. He said it should be used as a creative influence on others." 

Understandably, Robin Llywelyn is proud of what his ancestor built – literally and metaphorically. 

"He did achieve here, I think, something quite unique – not many people maybe would have had the opportunity, but he did it all piece by piece, hand to mouth and it had to be a business for it to develop and grow because it was self-financing," Llywelyn says.

"He didn't really have any finance behind him other than borrowing and making the business pay for itself. By today, it is a business that is fully functional and is again self-financing, it has to pay for its own upkeep." 

Although it has an annual turnover of $16 million in this financial year, Portmeirion Limited's profit is $540,000 – while the cost of renovation is set at almost $2.5 million in 2026. There's a dedicated maintenance team continually painting, repairing and renovating the village, while more than 200 staff are employed in hotels, shops and catering.

Every year Portmeirion welcomes around 250,000 visitors. Many of them come for one of the biggest annual events, staged by fans of the 1960s TV cult drama The Prisoner – extensively filmed in the village. 

Film set and 'awkwardness' 

Portmeirion is often used as a film set, because of its eclectic architecture – and fans of The Prisoner's science fiction-cum-spy series often stay for a few days every year, coming from around the world to marvel at their surroundings. 

"It's like a fairy tale – I can only say I think it's magnificent and unique, and everyone who comes here is charmed by it," says Joanne Elliott from Houston in Texas. "If you're someone like me who's traveled far and wide happily to get here, you realise that you've really found something unique and something special and something welcoming ."

"It's really unique," says Marc Christiansen, a Prisoner fan from Germany. "It's more Italian than British, so I think, why could this be in Northern Wales? I fell so much in love that I come over here again from year to year."

"When I came to Portmeirion, I realised that it was actually even more wonderful than I imagined it would be," said Cyril Martin, who lives in Paris. "So it's kind of a magical place."

"It has that touch of a little bit awkwardness, with just certain funny things on the buildings and that's what I like," says David Witham, also based in Germany. "It's kind of crazy, it's kinda strange, but I love it." 

That 'awkwardness' was baked in from the off, says Portmeirion MD Robin Llywelyn. "It constantly evolves and develops. The last thing Clough wanted was it to become some sort of a museum, pickled in aspic and kept as a sterile environment. He wants it to be living and breathing and giving people pleasure where things could happen."

Portmeirion retains an atmosphere of a place apart from everyday life. It's a charming pocket of fantasy, with native and subtropical plants thriving in the rugged landscape on the edge of Eryri National Park. And it's a tribute to one man's eccentric vision – a vision that has delighted visitors for a century.