Summary
A row of seven terrace c.1800 houses, with C20 additions.
Reasons for Designation
* Architectural interest: as a well-detailed early-C19 row of houses.
History
This row of houses is thought to have been built in c1808. The houses have undergone some alterations since, notably with the addition of porches, probably from the mid-late C19. Major Charles Edward Davis, the architect from Bath lived in No.82 in 1841, and his initials are carved in the porch of that house. Minor alterations, such as the replacement of window frames, have taken place in the C20.
Details
MATERIALS: limestone ashlar with rubble rear wall and slate roofs.
PLAN: a consistent terrace, of single depth, set across a sloping site.
EXTERIOR: three storeys to the front and four to the rear, each house has a front and rear wide face gable, and at each end there is a large extra bay. The windows are all horizontal bar casements with stone mullions and stopped drip-courses to flush surrounds and cills, and plank-doors set to flat pointed segmental heads with dropped square drip-courses, some in porches. The original layout had two-light windows above three-light windows, with two-lights and a door; all houses retain the original gable with two-lights, and No. 84 is unaltered. No. 72 is a set-back hipped bay, with modern casements, a small hipped dormer above three and two-light windows, with standard door to left, and the return has three above two-lights. This unit has deep eaves on brackets, and appears to be later than the remainder. No. 74 has part of the first-floor three-light window visible, with a two-storey square porch addition to the right, with a slit-light above a normal door, and with a three-light window plus transom at ground-floor level. No. 76 has a full-width two-storey front extension, with two two-light windows above a three-light window, all with transoms, and a standard door. No. 78 is similar, but with a steel casement at first-floor level, and a doorway to the shouldered lintel. No. 80 retains its original window layout, and has a small two-storey square porch to the right, with a paired plain sash at the first floor. No. 82 has its original windows, with small pane casements, and a small square porch with entablature, off centre to the right. To the left of No. 84 is an octagonal turret, with two string-courses, and a further bay with coped gable to the outer end, and three-light casements at two levels. To each party division is a very deep ashlar stack. The rear is much more regular, with a series of gables over regular casements with stone mullions and stopped drip-courses, a two-light window to each gable, and a three-light window to the remaining floors, with doors at lower-ground level. No. 74 is similarly fenestrated, but the whole width is slightly bowed. The rear of No. 72 has replaced casements, and an extension to No. 84 has two-light casements, and main the unit has stone bracketed eaves. There are some late-C20 roof lights on the south side.
INTERIORS: not inspected.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: across the full width of the frontage to the terrace is a boundary wall with steep weathered saddle back coping, but cut down to lower level and plain coping in part towards the left. An unusual row, deliberately picturesque, and drawing on C17 almshouses for inspiration. Their original function is unclear.
