Southcot House

Southcot House is a detached house built in 1777, with alterations around the mid-19th century. It is constructed of limestone ashlar with a slate roof. The house is situated on a sharply tapered site, originally designed as a villa with a cross arm, a canted outer end, and a lower wing with its outer end matching the site boundary. A large bay and entrance porch were added in the mid-19th century, facing the road.

The main front of the house is two stories and a lower ground floor, featuring a two-bay, one-bay, two-bay arrangement of windows, all with plain sashes. The top floor has single and tripartite windows. A lower ground floor contains a flush four-panel door alongside a sash window which is glazed but blocked behind, concealing a small cupboard created by the return of the end wall. The canted bay has three plain sashes at each level. A set-back bay has a sash window at each floor, arched at the piano nobile level. String courses delineate the ground and first floors, topped by a crenellated parapet across all sections, the bay being taller than the rest. The roofs are hipped, and there is an ashlar stack on the splayed outer wall. The entrance front features a large plain sash above an arched light with a keystone, and a pair of panelled doors with a transom light, sheltered by a cornice hood supported on console brackets. A flight of five plus one stone steps leads to a balustraded area with square terminal piers. To the right return, there’s a pair of small sashes, a doorway, and access to a conservatory. The rear features two and one sashes, a door with a transom light, and railed basement stairs.

Internally, the main reception rooms are simply detailed. The outer lobby has a Minton tile floor, leading to an inner lobby with an open well staircase featuring a solid string, painted turned balusters, and a mahogany handrail. A small rear courtyard and the original carriage house are integrated into the apex of the site; a wide garage door has been inserted into the outer wall. The drawing room has Venetian windows and cupboards flanking the fireplace, one of which may have been a former wig cupboard. A dining room cornice was added in the 1990s, and fireplaces were removed. A wooden staircase has a pine rail. The kitchen has a stone flagged floor with eight-sided black insets. The basement has a dresser. The coach house displays tongue and grooved panelling with traces of old paint.

The house was originally owned by John Evill, who commissioned its construction in 1777. It was advertised for sale in the Bath Herald on 20 April 1799.