:Portmeirion Town Hall
{{short description|Building in Portmeirion, Wales}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2022}}
{{Infobox historic site
| name = Portmeirion Town Hall
| native_name = Neuadd y Dref Portmeirion
|native_language=cy
| image = Portmeirion - Town Hall 2.jpg
| caption = Portmeirion Town Hall
| locmapin = Wales Gwynedd
| map_caption = Shown in Gwynedd
| coordinates = {{coord| 52.9130 |-4.0997|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}}
| location = Portmeirion
| area =
| built = 1938
| architect = Sir Clough Williams-Ellis
| architecture = Jacobean style
| governing_body =
| designation1_number = 4777
| designation1_date = 28 April 1952
| designation1_offname = Portmeirion Town Hall
| designation1 = Grade I Listed Building
| website =
}}
Portmeirion Town Hall ({{langx|cy|Neuadd y Dref Portmeirion}}), also known as the Hercules Hall, is a building in Portmeirion, Gwynedd, Wales. Being in a private village without a government, the building is used as an events venue. It is a Grade I listed building.{{NHAW|desc= Portmeirion Town Hall|num=4777|access-date=25 May 2022}}
History
File:Portmeirion Town Hall - Interior.jpg
The town hall formed one of a series of buildings designed and commissioned by the architect, Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, on a site which had previously been known as Aber Iâ (English: Ice Estuary). He developed the site to create a Mediterranean-style village which he called "Portmeirion". The town hall was designed in the Jacobean style, built in rubble masonry on the ground floor and in brick with a stucco finish on the first floor, and was completed in 1938.
The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage with five bays facing east towards the centre of the village. The central bay, which projected forward, featured a three-stage tower with a doorway with a moulded architrave and a cornice on the ground floor, a large mullioned and transomed window on the first floor and a balcony with a round-headed French door and an oculus on the second floor, all surmounted by a steeply shaped roof with a lantern, coronet and ball. The coronet was created using an upturned pig boiler.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20150603-is-this-britains-most-bizarre-village|title=Is this Britain's most bizarre village?|publisher=BBC|date=3 June 2015|access-date=25 May 2022|archive-date=25 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220525182555/https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20150603-is-this-britains-most-bizarre-village|url-status=live}} The left hand end bay, which also projected forward, contained an archway with voussoirs on the ground floor and a mullioned and transomed window on the first floor, while the right hand end bay, which did not project forward, contained a mullioned window on the ground floor and a wrought iron balcony with a round headed French door on the first floor. Internally, the principal rooms were the main assembly room known as the "Hercules Hall" and a smaller reception room known as the "Tudor Room", both on the first floor.{{cite web |url=https://portmeirion.wales/events/corporate/meeting-rooms |title=Meeting Rooms |publisher=Portmeirion |access-date=25 May 2022 |archive-date=29 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220529013038/https://portmeirion.wales/events/corporate/meeting-rooms |url-status=live }}
Williams-Ellis created the Hercules Room by acquiring the ceiling from the banqueting hall at Emral Hall, near Maelor in Flintshire just before it was demolished in 1936. He managed to buy the ceiling cheaply for £13 at the pre-demolition auction, subsequently also buying the stone mullioned windows and fireplaces.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zTAKPAAACAAJ|title= Buildings of Wales - Gwynedd |first1= Richard |last1=Haslam |first2=Julian|last2=Orbach |first3=Adam|last3=Voelcker |year= 2009 |pages=687-8 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-14169-6 }} The Emral estate had been established by the former member of parliament, Sir Roger Puleston, and rebuilt by his descendants in the early 18th century. The ceiling was barrel vaulted and depicted the labours of Hercules and the signs of the zodiac in white plaster cast.{{cite web|url= https://www.wrexham-history.com/emral-hall-worthenbury/ |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200929190210/https://www.wrexham-history.com/emral-hall-worthenbury/ |url-status= usurped |archive-date= 29 September 2020 |title=Emral Hall, Worthenbury|access-date=25 May 2022}} According the architectural historian, Nigel R. Jones, Williams-Ellis's work at Portmeirion, and his work on the town hall in particular, earned him a reputation in the architectural world for creating "a home for fallen buildings".{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=epsFOeV1mCMC&pg=PA198 |title= Architecture of England, Scotland, and Wales |first= Nigel R. |last=Jones |year= 2005 |page=198|publisher=Greenwood Press|isbn=978-0-313-31850-4 }} A statue of Hercules, which had been sculpted by William Brodie in 1863, was relocated from Aberdeen to Portmeirion and erected near the town hall in 1960.{{NHAW|desc= Hercules Statue|num=4890|access-date=25 May 2022}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aAyKYfG5cn4C&pg=PA15 |title=Puzzling Portmeirion: An Unconventional Guide to a Curious Destination|first= Craig |last=Conley|year= 2008|page=15|publisher=Createspace Independent Publishing|isbn=978-1-4382-1706-2}}
In 1967, the town hall was used as a filming location and also as the main production office for the British television series, The Prisoner, in which a British intelligence agent played by Patrick McGoohan and known as "Number Six" was imprisoned in a mysterious coastal village.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BCSx2zdxv6UC&pg=PA30 |title=The Prisoner Handbook |first1=Steven Paul|last1= Davies|first2= Alex|last2= Cox |year= 2007 |page=30|publisher=Pan|isbn=978-0-230-53028-7}} Between 2012 and 2018, the town hall served as one of the main venues for the art and music festival, Festival N°6, the title of which recalled the number of the fictitious agent. Performers at the town hall included the singer, Charlotte Church, in 2016,{{cite news|url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/music-nightlife-news/female-tribute-david-bowie-festival-11769082|title=There will be an all-female tribute to David Bowie at Festival No.6|date=19 August 2016|newspaper=Wales Online|access-date=25 May 2022|archive-date=25 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220525182555/https://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/music-nightlife-news/female-tribute-david-bowie-festival-11769082|url-status=live}} the pop band Dutch Uncles in 2017,{{cite news|url=https://www.northernsoul.me.uk/review-no-6-festival-portmeirion-north-wales-music/|title=Review: Northern Soul heads to (a rather muddy) Festival No 6 in Portmeirion, North Wales|date=20 September 2017|newspaper=Northern Soul|access-date=25 May 2022|archive-date=2 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220702042742/https://www.northernsoul.me.uk/review-no-6-festival-portmeirion-north-wales-music/|url-status=live}} and the singer, Fenne Lily, in 2018.{{cite web|url=https://festivalnumber6.com/portmeirion-venues/the-town-hall/|title=The Town Hall|publisher=Festival No. 6|access-date=25 May 2022|archive-date=26 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210926214403/https://festivalnumber6.com/portmeirion-venues/the-town-hall/|url-status=live}}