Round House Including Adjoining Arch and Walkway

Cadw's description

Location

Located immediately to the W of Ladies Lodge.

History

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. The village evolved over several decades and was still being added to in the 1970s.

Built in 1959-60 to complement the earlier Ladies Lodge adjacent, though based on ideas generated already in the mid 1930s. During the filming at Portmeirion of the cult television series The Prisoner in 1966, the Round House served as Number Six's residence.

Exterior

One of a pair of small shops linked by a parapetted overhead walkway above a central arch. Stuccoed walls with slate roof and pantiles to the wall and gable tops. The plan is in the form of a semi-circular drum tower with a main floor above a basement of rubble, built against a slope. The rear wall is flat and has a stepped and scrolled gable. This has a broad arch with main entrance within; small-pane glazing with central glazed doors. Above is an applied baroque cartouche and a decorative hanging bell to its R. To the R steps with sloped parapet walls lead up to the walkway which turns a right-angle to ascend over the large open arch. To the L the wall turns an angle to join the corner of Prior's Lodging; this short stretch of wall has a large open arch with another cartouche above. The rounded NW side has two 12-pane windows flanking a central small-pane glazed door which opens onto an iron balcony. The basement level has an arched niche beneath the balcony.

Reason for designation

Listed as an unusual and distinctive shop structure; one of a number of buildings and structures designed by the eminent architect and conservationist Sir Clough Williams-Ellis for his visionary Portmeirion villiage.

Group value with other listed items at Portmeirion.