page_title: St David's Hotel
section_title: Design and construction
hierarchical_section_title: St David's Hotel / Design and construction
caption_attribution_description: English: St David’s Hotel, photo taken prior to 1922
context_page_description: St. David's Hotel was an Edwardian Era hotel in Harlech, Wales. The building was located on the A496, adjacent to Theatr Harlech on the campus of Coleg Harlech, and Royal St David's Golf Club.
context_section_description: The St. David's Hotel is based on proposals drawn-up in January 1907 by George Henry Walton, a Glasgow School architect and contemporary of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. The proposals were subsequently revised in 1908, and the hotel was built in 1910.
  The Hotel has five storeys and a basement. The height of the Hotel was disguised by having the upper three floors included in a giant mansard with rows of dormers. The Hotel reflects skilled craftsmanship, in the handling of materials and detail, that echoes Walton's earlier design for Wern Fawr (now Coleg Harlech). Wern Fawr has been described as being "at the apex of building craft" and St David's Hotel has been described as Walton "at his most professional". At St David's Hotel, Walton provided solutions to a challenging commercial design brief that included the traditional use of heavy masonry on the exterior of the Hotel, which was intended to reflect the use of this material in the locality. In conjunction with this, Walton used reinforced concrete to open-up the interiors in order to simplify structural problems, make the most of the sea views, and give the interior "a cheerfulness which could survive even a dull Harlech day".
  The Hotel sits on the edge of the Harlech Conservation Area. The exterior design responds to the character of the more traditional buildings nearby, because of its use of stone and traditional form. Walton also designed all the fixtures and fittings for the Hotel, including fitted furniture, carpets, tables, chairs, settees and ironmongery, working to a tight budget. Walton is one of the forerunners of later European architects, such as the Danish architect Arne Jacobsen, whose design brief for St Catherine's College, Oxford included all the interior fixtures and fittings.
  The Hotel was built for a syndicate, in which George Walton was involved, and catered primarily for golfers visiting the adjacent Royal St David's Golf Club. The Hotel has been used by generations of golfers and other visitors to Harlech, who retain fond memories. The Hotel had 60 bedrooms and served traditional home-cooked food, facilities included an early twentieth-century lift (elevator), a snooker table, an outdoor pool, and a solarium.
caption: St David's Hotel, Harlech, photograph taken before 1922
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