Year: 2019

The Folly of Sir Clough Williams-Ellis

World-famous architects like Frank Gehry, Renzo Piano, and Rem Koolhaas often make headlines for their daring and creative buildings, but the vast majority of architects spend their time on more down-to-earth projects, like schools and fire houses. Their work is dictated by the needs of their clients, and their creativity is in service to solving any problems these needs might entail. But what happens when architects are given free rein? What do architects do for fun?

It is easy to imagine that Julia Morgan, the architect who designed Hearst Castle, enjoyed creating that fantastical world to Hearst’s specifications, or that Eduard Riedel, the architect of King Ludwig II of Bavaria’s Neuschwanstein Castle, found some pleasure in recreating a medieval castle in the 19th century. But these architects were still limited by the wishes and whims of their employers, unable to express themselves fully.

In comparison, the English-born Welsh architect Sir Clough Williams-Ellis (1883–1978) found a way to realize his dearest architectural dreams on his own terms. After purchasing a particularly beautiful piece of property on the northern Welsh coast in 1925, Clough set out to create a wonderland of architectural whimsy that he called Portmeirion (after the coastal setting and the Welsh name of the local county, Merioneth). The result of Clough’s work is a colorful Italianate village of cottages, towers, fountains, and cobbled streets that has drawn comparisons to the medieval hill towns of Tuscany and the world-renowned Italian coastal town of Portofino.

It Takes a Village

When Clough bought the Portmeirion site in 1925, his vision was not simply to construct individual buildings, but to create an entire town. As The Architects Journal noted of the project in 1926, the “results of his [Clough’s] scheme will be significant and should do much to shake the current notion that although houses must be designed with due care, towns may grow up by chance.” Over the next 50 years, this vision of Portmeirion began to take shape under Clough’s leadership, with construction occurring in two phases: from 1925 to 1939, and from 1954 to 1976.

Another part of Clough’s vision for Portmeirion was that it help to prove that beautiful natural spaces could be developed for commercial use without ruining their beauty, what he referred to as “that strange necessity.” His choice of this particular site, a peninsula in the Snowdonia region of Wales, was no accident. He wanted to draw visitors to the area, and the balmy microclimate and coastal views of Portmeirion proved attractive even when the town had not been fully developed. In fact, early on Clough raised money for the construction costs by operating a hotel out of an existing building.

In this respect, it could be argued that Clough was a forerunner to the modern pursuit of sustainable development, the attempt to provide economic benefit while preserving natural resources. Clough cared deeply about environmental protection; he not only served on various councils related to this goal, but was also a strong advocate for the creation of national parks in England and Wales, most especially for Snowdonia National Park in Wales.

Clough’s architectural credo, “Cherish the Past, Adorn the Present, Construct for the Future,” is in keeping with his passion for sustainability. At Portmeirion, Clough honored the past by salvaging old structures from demolition sites, relocating and renovating them to become part of what he called his “home for fallen buildings.” The vivid colors and enchanting streets of the town show Clough’s obvious love for “adorning the present,” while his larger vision of preserving the environment by pursuing limited economic development gives meaning to “constructing for the future.”

Escape to Portmeirion

Portmeirion has become a prime tourist destination for visitors to North Wales; visitors can see the town during the day, or may opt to stay the night in the main hotel, in serviced rooms located in the village, in self-catering individual cottages, or at the Castell Deudraeth, a Victorian castellated mansion on the estate. Tourists are drawn by the town’s legendary beauty, but it does have another claim to fame.

In 1966, Portmeirion was the setting for the filming of the British TV show The Prisoner, starring the popular stage and screen actor Patrick McGoohan. Although the show ran for only 17 episodes in 1967 and 1968, it became an enormous hit, and fans continue to be interested in every aspect of its production, including where it was filmed. As part of this interest, the official fan club of The Prisoner, Six of One, holds a convention in Portmeirion every year.

In these and other ways, the popularity of the town Sir Clough Williams-Ellis built lives on, over 40 years after his death. Although he may have created Portmeirion to satisfy his own architectural visions, he succeeded in bringing these dreams to life for the benefit of countless others.

Note: This is an updated version of an article that originally appeared on Interesting Thing of the Day on December 15, 2006.

Today is Read in the Bathtub Day, which is to say Saturday. Don’t most of us read in the bathtub at least once a week? Well, I’ll put it this way: normal, sane people read in the bathtub regularly, and by that metric at least, I am both normal and sane. (Pauses to reflect on the implications…) Now, I’ve been reading in the bathtub pretty much since I was old enough to read, and over years of intensive practice, I’ve developed the skill of, you know, not getting the book wet. But if you lack such a skill, if (like me) you prefer to read ebooks, or both, there’s a great solution. The latest Amazon Kindle Paperwhite is waterproof and prices now start at just $99.99. Now run a nice hot bath and get reading!

Image credit: Book Catalog [CC BY 2.0], via Flickr

The longest castle in the world

On my first visit to the Louvre, I was astounded by the amount of stuff there was to see—everything from da Vinci to Dührer to ancient Egyptian papyri. The collection is simply huge—the museum displays around 29,000 works of art in its endless halls. If you were able to stand in front of every object in the museum for only twenty seconds it would still take a full week, day and night. Not surprisingly, the “container” for all this stuff—the former Louvre palace—is gigantic as well. From its origin as a fortress during the reign of Philippe Auguste in 1190, to its present state today, successive governments and royal regimes have modified and beautified and expanded it along the length of the Seine into what it is now: a very large frame for the Mona Lisa.

After walking what seemed like miles past more Madonnas and children than I ever hoped to see, I had to keep reminding myself that there is a castle in Europe that is even longer than the Louvre. At age 16, I visited this castle while I was at a summer language camp in Bavaria. On one of our field trips, we went to Burghausen castle, 68 miles (110km) east of Munich, and 31 miles (50km) north of Salzburg. At the time, being a naive North American kid, castles and centuries-old European culture were still a novelty, and Burghausen made a huge impression on me. Heavy rain could not dampen my delight in visiting this imposing fortress, even though for my European friends it was just another castle. I was particularly wowed by its history, its size, and the fact that Napoleon had once stayed there.

The Long and the Short

Burghausen may not have the high profile of the Louvre, or even of other Bavarian castles (Neuschwanstein springs to mind), but it does have a long and complex history. It was built on a ridge overlooking the Salzach river, in an area that was once the site of a Celtic settlement (around 100 BCE), and was then occupied by the Romans before becoming a power center for various Bavarian aristocratic dynasties. The longest-lived of these dynasties, the Dukes of the Wittelsbach family, ruled Bavaria from 1180 until 1918 CE. During their reign, the castle was built up in stages (as was the Louvre), beginning in 1255 and continuing until around 1480–1490. In its finished state, the castle had six linked courtyards, and ran for over a kilometer along the ridge, making it the longest castle in the world.

In more recent history, Napoleon made use of Burghausen’s strategic position on the banks of the Salzach during his campaign against the Austro-Hungarian Empire. From April 28 to May 2, 1809, the one-time Emperor of France quartered his 100,000 troops and their horses in the area while a pontoon bridge was built to replace the one destroyed by the Austrian troops across the river. Despite the inconvenience of having tens of thousands of soldiers hanging around the town, this visit put Burghausen on the map for a time, and its local newspaper proudly declared: “We are the center of Europe: Napoleon stayed inside our walls.”

Modern Burghausen

Besides its fascinating history, Burghausen is a wonderful place to visit for its modern incarnation as well. The Altstadt (“old town”) at the base of the fortress is extremely charming, filled with colorful row houses along the river, and narrow pedestrian-only streets replete with cozy shops. Every March the town hosts International Jazz Week, featuring world-class jazz musicians, and in July it celebrates a festival recreating 16th century life in the town and castle.

Another interesting aspect of Burghausen is its location right on the border with Austria. When I visited, I found it fascinating that I could to travel to another country by simply walking across a bridge from the town center over the Salzach river into Austria. It was a much shorter walk than a stroll through even one of the galleries of the Louvre.

Note: This is an updated version of an article that originally appeared on Interesting Thing of the Day on June 21, 2003, and again in a slightly revised form on November 6, 2004.

Image credit: Pixabay

Every year, the second Friday in February is International Winter Bike to Work Day. Cycling on snow and ice is, of course, a wee bit more treacherous than on dry roads, but it can be done—and many people do it. If you commute by bike only in the summer, today’s the perfect day to challenge yourself and find the best way to bike in winter, too (assuming the temperature is somewhere north of –40°). Of course, here in San Diego, commuting by bike is a year-round activity since there’s never any snow or ice…and for those of us who work at home the whole notion of commuting is moot anyway. But I’ll cheer on the rest of you!

Image credit: Bike Calgary [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Flickr