No. 39 Bailbrook House

Details

LONDON ROAD WEST (North side)

No.39 Bailbrook House

01/02/56 II*

Mansion house. 1790-1802 with C20 alterations. By John Eveleigh for Dr Denham Skeet, Doctor of Laws in London. Now Bailbrook College. MATERIALS: Limestone ashlar with slate roofs. PLAN: Two main blocks are connected by single storey set back top-lit entrance block. Block to left U-shaped with long lateral rear left service wing, block to right is virtually square. EXTERIOR: Two storeys and lower ground floor with basements to rear, symmetrical ten-bay facade to main front (five windows to each block). Coped parapets, modillion cornices, stepped friezes and plinths encircle each block. Grand order of Ionic pilasters on moulded plinths flank inner ranges and two outer ranges of facades, remaining ranges are set slightly back with full height semi-elliptical recesses over windows, some with crown glass. Double moulded stringcourses between the floors follow recesses and interrupted by pilasters. Left hand block has bellied balconettes to sixteen/eight-pane first floor sash windows and to six/six-pane sash window to ground floor, right hand block has two/four-pane sash windows. Returns facing entrance have blind windows. Stone balustrades with urns to piers flank steps up to platform fronting entrance block. Domed lantern, blind balustrade over entablature with dentil cornice on engaged Ionic columns (quarter columns to angles) with dado and plinths, moulded architrave and pediment on consoles to central double panelled doors, eared archivolts with keystones to semicircular arched C20 windows to sides below garlands between capitals of columns. Right return facing south symmetrical eight-window range with similar mouldings to front, flanked by giant order of Ionic columns. Two central ranges step slightly forward with quarter pilasters to angles, outer ranges have second floor sill strings and windows have variety of glazing bars. Sloping site is accommodated by chamfered rusticated arcade of semicircular arches to lower ground floor below outer windows and one wider stepped forward arch to centre, above piers are plinths with urns. Rear of right hand block three storeys with variety of windows, some blind. Projecting rear of entrance block is two storeys, symmetrical three-window range with Tuscan pilasters to quoins, bellied balconettes to outer first floor twelve/eight-pane sash windows, that to centre blind and six/six-pane sash windows to ground floor. Rear of left hand block is two storeys with lower service wing extending to north. Ground floor of left hand block and part of service wing have C20 conservatory. Six/six-pane and twelve/twelve-pane sash windows to east end, north return and front of service wing. Parapet of left return of left hand block sweeps down to lower rear with lower triangular projections and no windows. INTERIOR: Entrance hall has spectacular oval lantern, balconies to front and rear supported by fluted cabled Ionic columns in antis, semi-elliptical cobweb fanlight over double three-panel doors with fluted pilasters and wide eight-pane margin lights and floor of diagonal Bath stone slabs with slate corner insets. Hall to right has diagonal black and white marble floor slabs and curved architraves and doors in curved wall. Cantilevered stone stair with ornamental cast iron panels between balusters. Elaborate cornices and other decorations. Fine chimneypieces include a marble one to the library with globes and emblems of study. Interior recorded by the Bath Preservation Trust. HISTORY: John Eveleigh designed this house, one of the finest of its day, for Dr Denham Skeet at a cost of £12,450. Work began in 1791. Together with the building of the Grosvenor Hotel it contributed significantly to Eveleigh¿s financial collapse in 1794. Work continued on the house, which was eventually sold to Valentine Jones for £7,035 in 1802. Now Bailbrook College. SOURCES: (Mowbray Green, `The Eighteenth Century Architecture of Bath (1904), 191; Ison W: The Georgian Buildings of Bath: Bath: 1948-: 16; Colvin H: A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1660-1840: London: 1978-: 302; ).

Listing NGR: ST7682266944

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