26861

 

II  

Designated  

23/08/2002  

23/08/2002  

Sea-front Terrace Incorporating the Casino and Amis Reunis  

 

Gwynedd  

Penrhyndeudraeth  

 

Portmeirion  

258961  

337041  

 

Located immediately below, and to the E of, the terrace in front of the Portmeirion Hotel.  

Gardens, Parks and Urban Spaces  

 

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 1925. The village evolved over several decades and was still being added to in the 1970s. The seafront terrace, constructed in 1926, forms the quay of Portmeirion. In that year CWE moored a seventy ton trading ketch alongside; unhappily this drifted off during a spring gale and ended up beached and on its side on the small island of Ynys Gifftan. CWE salvaged what he could and in 1930 eventually incorporated the ketch into the quayside, now moored, more securely, in mortar and concrete. The ship which came from Britany, was named the Amis Reunis. In the same year an arched loggia was built; this was named the Casino.  

Long built quay, or terrace of irregular plan, incorporating the Amis Reunis ship and the Casino, as well as a parapetted steps and subway structure leading from the road down onto the quay. The quay itself is flagged and has a rubble revettment, with broad flight of stone steps descending to the water in the centre. The Amis Reunis is incorporated into the Sea Front Terrace at an angle to the S and gives the impression of being moored. Concrete faux boat with two tall masts. The Casino is placed in the centre of the quay, opposite the steps and backing onto the hotel's terrace revettment. It consists of a part-rendered rubble logia of three round-headed arches with Tuscan columns to the centre; balustrade to the top, with three sections of turned balusters between solid piers; moulded copings. Steps sweep up to the L and R to the upper (hotel) terrace, though are now blocked off. To the N of the quay is a square walled projection containing a subway-type stair access to the road above; surmounting balustraded parapet.  

 

Listed as one of a number of buildings and structures erected or remodelled by the eminent architect and conservationist Sir Clough Williams-Ellis for his visionary Portmeirion villiage. Group value with other listed items at Portmeirion.