Details
NELSON PLACE WEST
(North side)
Nos.1-8 (Consec)
12/06/50
GV II
Palace-fronted terrace of eight houses. c1805 with C20 additions, attributed to John Palmer.
MATERIALS: Limestone ashlar front and main return, rendered or coursed rubble rear, slate front, and double Roman rear roof slopes, but No.8 slate also to rear.
EXTERIOR: Incomplete palace-fronted composition, with projecting end pavilion to east end (No.1) only; terrace extended to west in late C20. Each house is of three storeys with an attic and basement, with two window-wide fronts, except Nos 1 and 2, all sashes, six-pane to attic above twelve-pane to plain sill band, deep eighteen-pane to balcony, sixteen-pane to ground floor, and sixteen or twelve-pane to basement, with variations noted below. No.1 has four giant Ionic pilasters, slightly brought forward as pavilion, but has no balcony, with twelve-pane to ground floor. No.2 has twelve-pane to ground floor, and blind central light to attic. No.3 has extra twelve-pane inserted to former door position, and nine-pane to attic. No.4 has six-pane to attic. No.5 has one first floor window with twelve long panes replacing former 18, and four-pane to attic. No.6 has fifteen-pane first floor, and four-pane to attic. No.7 also has fifteen-pane first floor, but plain sash to attic. No.8 has twelve-pane to ground floor. To basement, Nos 1,2,5 and 6 have sixteen-pane, remainder are twelve-pane, but Nos 7 and 8 also have C20 glazed door. Doors, to right, but shared to Nos 1/2 and 3/4, are all six-panel, top two glazed, and with plain transom light. Ground floor heavily rusticated, with voussoirs to door and window, rustication not returned to reveals. Above moulded band, with full width stone slab balcony on brackets, and with fine cast iron panelled rail with Chinese diagonal lattice, standards with Greek key embellishment. To No.1, without balcony, deep band beneath first floor sill, forming base also to pilasters, and with `NELSON PLACE' incised in good Roman on platband. Continuous entablature below deep attic, with cornice, blocking course and parapet. Each house has ashlar stack, to left, to both ridges. Return, to Nile Street, four-bays, outer bays with blind lights, in three-storeys and attic, with six/twelve/eighteen/twelve-pane sashes, and bands and mouldings as to front of No.1. First floor platband `NILE STREET' incised in fine Roman lettering. Back varied, Nos 1 to 3 rendered, others in rubble and some ashlar, especially to projecting narrow full height wings to Nos 5 to 8. Sashes with glazing bars to each house, mostly six or twelve-pane, but some eighteen, nine, and four-pane, and simple coped parapet, with moulded band below attic storey. The terrace turns its back on the Upper Bristol Road, and the rear elevation is much altered, with the addition of closet wings and other alterations.
INTERIORS: Not inspected. These houses have been adapted for use as flats, and are thought to have undergone extensive internal alteration.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: Across front of each house, returned to facade fine cast iron spear head railings on rounded curb, and doors approached by landing on quadrant vault bridge.
HISTORY: This terrace is set at right angles to north end of Norfolk Crescent, and forms part of a larger development, laid out around a triangular green, bounded by River Avon to south. Nelson Place took its architectural inspiration from Norfolk Crescent and re-uses many of the same elements (i.e. the ironwork) to create a cohesive whole. Like the Royal Crescent, this development consisted of a major urban development on the edge of the city, enjoying views over an unspoiled rural prospect. The frontage has been extensively restored in recent times, during which process the terrace's overall composition was completed.
SOURCE: Walter Ison `The Georgian Buildings of Bath' (2nd ed. 1980), 181.
Listing NGR: ST7434864988
