1 to 21, PARAGON

Paragon, Bath: Twenty-one Terrace Houses

Twenty-one terraced houses of uniform design, arranged in a slightly concave line on a sloping site that is level to the front but falls steeply away at the rear. The houses were built between 1768 and 1775 to designs approved on 7 September 1768 according to Council Minutes, with 19th-century alterations made later. They were designed by Thomas Warr Atwood.

The houses are constructed in limestone ashlar with double-pitched slate mansard roofs. Each roof features two dormers and moulded chimney stacks set to the party walls.

The terrace presents three storeys with attics and basements to the front, rising to five storeys with attics at the rear. Each house has a three-window range. The façade is unified by a continuous coped parapet, modillion cornice, ground-floor platband, and plinth. Raised and fielded six-panel doors (some altered to five panels) are positioned to the right of each entrance, set within doorcases with Tuscan pilasters supporting an entablature and pediment (some pediments have been altered). The windows were originally six/six pane sashes with splayed reveals, though most main floor windows have now been replaced with plate glass. Upper floor windows sit within moulded architraves, and the first-floor windows have lowered sills—a requirement imposed in leases renewed around 1870, which stipulated that first-floor windows should be cut down, glazed with British plate glass, and given splayed surrounds. Pediments crown the central windows, flanked by windows with cornices. The terminal houses at each end step slightly forward with stopped cornices. Ground-floor openings are set in semicircular arched recesses with chamfered rustication and radial voussoirs.

Individual variations across the terrace include: No.1 (right terminal) retains six/six pane sashes to the basement and a glazed door. No.2 has six/six pane basement sashes. No.3 has two/two pane basement sashes. No.4 retains six/six pane basement sashes and a five-panel door glazed to the top, with a cast-iron wreath knocker. No.5 has boarded-up lower windows and door, with the doorcase having an open pediment supported by fluted pilasters. No.6 is boarded up with late 19th-century cast-iron flower guards to the first-floor windows. No.7 has six/six pane basement sashes and a five-panel door glazed to the top. No.8 has two/two pane basement sashes with flower guards to the left and centre first-floor windows. No.9 has six/six pane basement sashes and six/nine panes to the first floor. No.10 has six/six pane basement sashes, a half-glazed four-panel door, and flower guards to first-floor windows. No.11 has six/six pane basement sashes, a six-panel door glazed to the top, and balconettes to the first-floor windows. No.12 has sash windows without horns, six/six panes to the basement and six/nine panes to the first floor, with a six-panel door glazed to the top. No.13 has six/six pane basement sashes, trellised balconettes to the first floor, and a six-panel door glazed to the top. No.14 has flower holders to the first floor and a five-panel door glazed to the top. No.15 has six/six pane basement sashes, flower holders to the first floor, and a late 19th-century six-panel door with ornamental corners to three vertical panels at the top and base. No.16 has six/six pane basement sashes and a six-panel door glazed to the top with a cast-iron wreath knocker. No.17 is similar to No.16 but without the cast-iron knocker. No.18 is similar to No.17 but with a five-panel door. No.19 has six/six pane basement sashes and a six-panel door glazed to the top with inverted corners to the upper central section; its pediment has been replaced by a cornice cut into the platband above a shallow hood on inverted pyramidal brackets. No.20 has six/six pane basement sashes and a six-panel door glazed to the top; it was the home and office of C. H. Basnett, Architect, from 1813 to 1820 according to Bath directories. No.21 (left terminal) is similar to No.1, known as Gilbert Mullin's House, with all plate-glass sash windows, a six-panel door glazed to the top, and "PARAGON BUILDINGS" carved into the platband.

The interiors have not been inspected.

Historical Significance

The Paragon is reputed to be the first consciously designed crescent of houses in Britain, though it merely follows the existing roadline rather than forming an actual curved composition. Whilst Nos. 1–30 Royal Crescent (listed Grade I) was designed earlier, building began at the Paragon first. In 1801, Jane Austen and her family stayed at No.1 with her uncle and aunt, Mr and Mrs Leigh Perrott, following her father's retirement from the Church of St Nicholas in Steventon, Hampshire. During their time at the Paragon, the Austens conducted a search for a permanent home in Bath. Letters written by Jane Austen to her sister Cassandra from this address contain detailed descriptions of the places they considered.