Details
BATHWICK HILL
(North side)
Bathwick Grange
11/08/72 II*
Formerly known as: Montebello BATHWICK HILL.
Detached house. c1829, by Henry Edmund Goodridge (1797-1864).
MATERIALS: Ashlar, slate roofs.
PLAN: Irregular picturesque plan, with main block set at right angles to street, with octagonal tower at south-west corner, octagonal conservatory at north-west with square belvedere tower above.
EXTERIOR: Intricate picturesque design consisting of two storeys and basement. Entrance front has a two light casement with arched head, and a large eight pane margin light sash, both of these to horizontal louvred shutters, above a deep canted bay to the right, with a long French casement to each face under a blind tympanum and in moulded archivolt, to a flat roof with moulded edge. To the left is a pair of large glazed doors to a radial fanlight on four + one steps under a portico with partial entablature on slender Doric unfluted columns to high pedestals. The turret to the left rises to an attic level (formerly taller), with a sill band at mid-height; this has one arched and one square sash to the left, and to the right, low, a large four pane sash in architrave, above a sunk panel. The top is balustraded, and carries across, with a margin light sash, to an attic storey set back from the principal eaves, which has a stone gutter on paired square brackets. The right return has a central eaves stack with modillion capping, above two blind lights and one twelve pane all with moulded architraves, and at ground floor an inserted twelve pane; at basement level, approached by a straight flight of stone steps enclosed by a stone balustrade, are three twelve pane sashes with protective bars. To the right is a small lean-to with door, and, set back, the rear of the service link, with one shallow three pane light. Facing the entrance courtyard, to the left, is a three arched loggia, with central verandah and open stone balustrade carried on small scroll supporters; in the rear wall are three large openings with French casements, arched to the ground floor and square above. The stone eaves is as to the front, and there is a deep but narrow stack with modillion capping, to the low-pitched coped gable. To the left, and set back, is the service link, with wide garage doors below plain walling, and two light casement to a balcony with open balustrade as in the adjoining main range, then set forward, the lofty but narrow tower, with pyramidal roof on deep bracketed eaves to open arched faces in sunk panels with plain quoin pilasters; the south face has a small arched light above a square light at the lower levels, and there are raised pilaster quoins.
INTERIOR: Not inspected.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: Across the west front is a stone terrace, enclosed by a stone balustrade in five panels with square panelled piers, and terminals with high-relief lion heads. To the right the balustrade stops to an opening, with wide octagonal panelled piers carrying urns; behind the right hand pier are three more panels of balustrade, set at an angle to the main front. Round fountain in front of west front, with a bowl carried on a three-legged base. There is a subsidiary entrance from the street, set into the retaining wall, with an arched carriage store flanked with doors, the right-hand of which has a decorative cast iron grille.
HISTORY: Goodridge built this house (originally called Montebello) in 1828, and lived there until 1848 when he moved to Fiesole, Bathwick Hill (qv). It makes the most of its hillside setting, and is among the most picturesque of all of Bath¿s suburban villas, introducing the newly fashionable Italianate style into domestic architecture. It also shows the considerable success the young Goodridge had already attained by the age of thirty. Most of the house was designed prior to Goodridge¿s journey to Italy in 1829; the campanile-like belvedere post-dated the visit, and shows his reliance on Italian sources at its strongest. The tall conservatory situated at the north-west of the house has recently (c2000) been reinstated.
SOURCES: David Watkin, `Thomas Hope 1769-1831 and the Neo-Classical Idea¿ (1968), 141-43; Neil Jackson, `Nineteenth Century Bath: Architects and Architecture¿ (1991), 110-13.
Listing NGR: ST7651164407
