4859

 

II  

Designated  

14/01/1971  

23/08/2002  

Trinity House Including Adjacent Petrol Pump  

 

Gwynedd  

Penrhyndeudraeth  

 

Portmeirion  

258918  

337175  

 

Opposite the Arches in the centre of the village.  

Domestic  

 

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. Trinity was built in 1933-4 and originally had three garages to the ground floor with accommodation to the floors above. The ground floor was subsequently remodelled and turned into a shop; it is currently called Pot Jam. Facing the fountain basin and contained within arched niches on the E side are 2 marble busts of the Duke and Duchess of Argyll. These are copies of the originals by Michael Rysbrack (1694-1770), made in 1994 by Cliveden Conservation Workshop Ltd.  

Three-storey commercial building of eclectic Georgian character. Rendered elevations with rubble ground floor and hipped slate roof with oversailing eaves; plain rendered chimney. The front (SW) elevation has a main 3-bay section with an advanced additional bay to the R, the latter jettied out slightly at first floor level and with slightly angled corner. The main block has a shop front to the ground floor consisting of a central entrance with triple multi-pane doors deeply recessed between two canted multi-pane bays; a projecting canopy runs along the entire length of this section above the entrance and bays. The upper storeys have 12-pane sash windows to the outer bays and 6-pane vertical windows to the centre, that to the second floor with external wooden shutters. The advanced right-hand section has a tunnel entrance to the L which gives access to the rear, and a part-glazed door to the R. The first floor has a 2-part 8-pane casement window; small square light to the second floor diagonally above. The rear elevation, facing the pond, has a symmetrical main section with three arched niches to the ground floor and two shallow canted oriels to the upper floors. The niches have segmental fans and there are baroque busts within the outer ones. The canted oriels have 12-pane central and 8-pane flanking sashes, with small rectangular lights to the far L and R on both floors. 12-pane sashes to the L return on both upper floors. Set back to the L is the adjoining section. This has a metal-railed stair leading up in one straight flight to the first floor where there is a glazed door within a recessed porch; 6-pane upper window. Standing in front of Trinity is a National Benzole petrol pump of 1926, embellished with a polychromed early C19 pine figurehead.  

 

Listed as a well-designed Georgian-style shop premises; 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.