Pratt'S Hotel

Pratt's Hotel

Houses, now hotel. Built circa 1743-49 by John Wood the Elder. The building is constructed in limestone ashlar with a Welsh slate roof.

The structure forms part of a twenty-nine-bay Palladian terrace, with Pratt's Hotel occupying the eastern end as numbers 4 to 8 (consecutive). These five houses create the centrepiece and eastern conclusion of this palace-fronted composition, arranged in a distinctive pattern of three bays, seven bays, three bays, three bays, three bays, seven bays, and three bays. Each house is of three storeys with attics and basements, except number 5 at the centre, which is of five bays. Number 5 projects forward and is topped with a pediment and parapet with ball finials. Number 8 also projects forward with a return frontage to Duke Street.

The exterior features late 19th-century plate glass sash windows with splayed surrounds, some with dropped sills (particularly noticeable on the second floor of number 7), arranged beneath a platband at first floor level. A modillion cornice runs across the façade, below a parapet that once bore a stone balustrade (now represented only by solid sections surviving in place). Mansard roofs with flat-topped dormers—two to each house—crown the buildings, though the roof to number 7 has been heightened. Ashlar chimney stacks originally topped with pots are present, though the stack to number 7 has been removed entirely.

Doors and porches vary across the range. Numbers 4 and 8 have pediment doorways on consoles consistent with the wider development. Number 5, centrally placed, features an Ionic doorcase with full entablature carried on columns and now supporting a cast iron balcony. Number 6 has lost its doorcase entirely and acquired an extra window. Number 7 displays a later Greek Revival doorcase with deep frieze and pediment carried on Doric pilasters. Wrought iron balconettes adorn the first floor windows of number 5, while a continuous wrought iron balcony runs across the first floors of number 7 and the adjoining bays of its neighbours. Wrought iron front area railings replace the original stone balustrades. Basement windows match those above, except number 4 which has two damaged six-over-six sashes, and number 5 which has two casements.

Number 8 presents a four-bay front elevation with the outer three bays projecting forward as part of the end-of-terrace emphasis. Its three-bay return to Duke Street also projects forward, balanced within the overall composition. The left-hand pairs of windows to each floor are blind (none on the left of the ground floor), whilst the right-hand windows contain plate glass sashes. The platband is inscribed 'DUKE STREET' in sunken capitals.

Internally, only partial inspection has been undertaken. Partial survival of original joinery, plasterwork, and plan form remains, though the ground floor has been substantially altered.

Historically, number 5 is associated with the Duke of York (1761), the Duke of Kingston who died there (the ground landlord), and the Reverend William Bowles. Number 6 is associated with Sir Walter Scott, who stayed there in 1777 as a child (marked by a bronze plaque). William Wilberforce stayed at number 7 in 1830.

The terrace underwent various alterations to its planning, particularly through house amalgamation. Numbers 6 and 7 were amalgamated into number 7, with number 6 losing both its doorway and chimney stack. All five houses are now amalgamated as Pratt's Hotel.

This terrace formed a key part of John Wood's scheme for the Abbey Orchard (1740-1749), one of the most important urban developments of its era. Work commenced on the row in 1743, though plots were still being assigned in 1749. The original appearance is recorded in a watercolour of 1775 by Thomas Malton, held in the Victoria Art Gallery, Bath, taken from the southern end of Duke Street looking west. This image documents the front area balustrades, the urns at the parapet corners, and the obelisk-like finial over the central pediment.