The Unicorn

Cadw's description

Location

Set back on an elevated sloping site overlooking the Central Piazza on the N side; accessed via gated flights of stone steps.

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.

The Unicorn was built in 1964 as a `mini Chatsworth.' In fact the detail is deliberately scaled down to give the impression of greater size, and the building is in essence a flat-roofed bungalow.

Exterior

Elegant classical building with stuccoed elevations; it essentially consists of a single-storey, flat-roofed cottage raised up above an arcaded basement, and it gives the impression of being a more substantial 2-storey villa due to its fine symmetrical facade. This is of 7 bays, with the central three advanced with moulded pediment and full-height pilasters defining the bay divisions. Elegant 15-pane sashes to the principal floor, that to the central bay with balcony and decorative mermaid balustrade, and those to the four outer wings with applied circular plaques above. Rusticated quoins to the corners and projecting keys and imposts to the arcade arches. Within the pediment is a relief crest of a unicorn.

Reason for designation

Listed as a well-conceived classical building; 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.