Details
SOMERSET PLACE
656-1/15/1503
Nos.5-20 (Consec)
and attached wall and railings
12/06/50
GV I
Crescent of sixteen terrace houses, now college. 1791-1820 (some restored after World War II bombing). By John Eveleigh.
MATERIALS: Limestone ashlar, slate mansard roofs with dormers and moulded stacks.
PLAN: Double depth plans some with one or two storey rear lobbies.
EXTERIOR: Three storeys with attics and basements, each house of three bays. The crescent curves outwards from a central pair of houses, marked by the giant broken segmental pediment over the parapet, and descends downhill to the east. Subtle line of parapet pierced by circles in front of dormers, modillioned cornice, frieze, and ground floor platband continuous, windows of each house step downward in threes. All have six/six-pane sash windows, six-panel doors under rectangular fanlights with semicircular tracery and cornices on consoles. The dominant feature of terrace is the central symmetrical pair of houses, Nos. 10 and 11, known to have been designed by John Eveleigh. These, the earliest part of the development, are stepped slightly forward from the rest, and are not curved in plan like the rest. Full width broken segmental pediment, with central pedestal and urn. Tympanum richly carved with swags caught up by pegs and rings. Moulded architraves rest on continuous sill string courses to upper floor windows, with garlands of husks looped over paterae to centre. Windows to the first floor have cornices and a semicircular arched niche to centre mounted by open triangular pediment with festoons to tympanum, cornice rests on those of flanking windows. The central pair of doors each have masks of frosted vermiculation to tall triple keystones which reach cornices on consoles that terminate in carved leaves, blocks to architraves and restored C20 overlights. Flanking windows have plain architraves with stepped triple keystones. C20 horned six/six-pane sash windows. Houses to each side are simpler. Those to the left have doors to right, those to right have doors to left. Nos 5-7 reconstructed after bombing, but parapet and cornice appear to be original. No.8 has balconettes to second floor and early C19 trellised first floor balcony on cast iron brackets with swept canopy and six/nine-pane sash windows. Doorcase has banded rustication, an unusual acanthus leaf mask keystone, and C20 fanlight. No.9 has balconettes to upper floors, C20 horned six/six-pane sash windows and similar doorcase with crown glass to original cobweb fanlight. No.12 similar. No.13 similar with acanthus leaves to keystones. No.14 similar to No.13. No.15 similar, without balconettes. No.16 has original crown glass fanlight, no balconettes and plain keystones. Nos 17-20 have first floor sills lowered to platband. No.17 has C20 horned six/six-pane sash windows and plain keystone over original crown glass fanlight. No.18 has late C19 plate glass sash windows, mid C19 balcony on scroll brackets to first floor and original fanlight. Circular panels in parapet have been cut away. No.19 has semicircular plan balconettes to first floor and plain overlight. Similar treatment to parapet. No.20, stepped slightly forward, has banded rustication and incised voussoirs reaching platband to two left hand ranges of ground floor and balconettes to first floor. Range to right cants back, door to left of it has blocked overlight and low small circular window to right. Rear: limestone rubble and render. Central houses have full attic storey. Nine houses to left rebuilt except No.8 which has crown glass to six/six-pane sash windows with balconettes. Few one and two storey rear lobbies, some of rear party walls to right end of terrace project to provide stacks to rear lobbies, some are brick. Some eight/eight-pane sash windows with balconettes mostly C19 and C20 windows.
INTERIORS: Not inspected. Many panelled shutters, six-panel doors with fanlights to the rear of the hall are known to survive. A series of 1925 photographs of the interior of No.12 is in the National Monuments Record: these record extensive plasterwork, decorative arches on brackets to ground floor passage, open-string dog-leg staircases with cantilevered stone treads with mahogany rails, wrought iron lyre decoration and stick balusters, marble chimneypieces, arches between reception rooms.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: Good area railings. Land slopes down to right and terrace forecourt level. Revetment wall rises to approx 2m high, ashlar to front (approx 10m) and rubblestone to right return (approx 6m), attached to right hand corner of No.20 and railings to top have support for former lamp bracket.
HISTORY: This development, continuing the sinuous line of Lansdown Crescent, was commenced by John Eveleigh in 1790 but was abandoned for financial reasons, and only resumed in c1820. Nos. 1-6, the western end, were never built above ground;
Nos. 5-7 and 10-13 were gutted by incendiaries in 1942. One of the most unusual of Bath's crescents, and forming one of the most characterful set-piece sequences on the northern slopes of the city. In spite of extensive post-WW2 reconstruction, the interest of the crescent remains very high.
SOURCES: Walter Ison, 'The Georgian Buildings of Bath' (2nd ed. 1980), 176; Thom Gorst, 'Bath. An Architectural Guide' (1997), 184-5.
Listing NGR: ST7440666077
