The Unmutual
Reviews: PORTMEIRION - THE ARCHITECTURE OF PLEASURE
By Sarah Baylis. Yale University Press.
Review by Rick Davy.
‘Portmeirion – The Architecture of Pleasure’ is a new hardback book by Sarah Baylis, published by Yale University Press to coincide with Portmeirion’s 100th anniversary.
There have been countless books published in the past, both large and small, detailing the history of the village. Some are better than others. This one, profusely illustrated with new and archive photographs, painstakingly researched by Sarah Baylis, must surely now be regarded as the very best of them all.
They say that the best stories are those where you already know the ending, and it is how you tell the story that is more important. I feel that this claim is more than accurate when it comes to this book.
It is not just a list of important dates, expanded into text merely telling us what was built and when. It asks and answers the additional questions of ‘why?’ and ‘how?’ It is to my mind the first book to truly tell the evolution of Portmeirion, and not just a history of it. Each era of the village is meticulously explained and perfectly ordered and Sarah Baylis should take great credit for finding a way of explaining Portmeirion and its history without merely repeating what has gone before.
The highlight, and thanks much also go here to Portmeirion’s peerless and tireless Collections Curator, Rachel Hunt, are the inclusions of archive items, hitherto unseen, which are guaranteed to whet the appetite of even the most ardent and knowledgeable Portmeirion aficionado. I won’t spoil any surprises here, but merely encourage folk to go and get a copy before copies of this limited edition tome run out!
Richard Haslam’s foreword is genuine and heartfelt, the section on Sir Clough immediately enables the reader to understand the genesis of the village on a greater and more interesting level than ever before, and the individual sections throughout the book (such as those on The Prisoner series and Susan Williams-Ellis) are both accurately and interestingly described. But it’s the exploration of those who helped create the place, and the events which made the place evolve, which really add something to this book.
If there is to be one quibble, I found some of the modern photographs used - including the front cover - to be a little uninspiring, and the publisher’s choice to crop buildings to accommodate some images is a little baffling, as is their choice of paper stock (surely such a richly illustrated book would have looked better on glossy paper?)
But those are minor aesthetic quibbles. Sarah Baylis’s book is far more than a collection of aesthetics. It is a delightful, and unique, journey through Portmeirion’s rich and fascinating history and is highly recommended.
PORTMEIRION - THE ARCHITECTURE OF PLEASURE is available from Portmeirion.