1-6, Widcombe Terrace

Widcombe Terrace comprises six terrace houses, built around 1805 and almost certainly designed by Charles Harcourt Masters. The terrace is constructed in limestone ashlar with slate roofs.

The terrace is arranged in a straight line of double-depth houses with mansard roofs. Entry is from Church Street on the north-east side, with additional access to a raised terrace on the south-west. The end units are very slightly stepped forward, and at the north end paired full-height bows are provided.

The houses are three storeys tall with attic and basement levels. Each has a paired sash dormer window. The main windows are generally twelve-pane sashes, with tripartite units to the ground and first floors. The top floor has paired sashes, and Nos.2–6 each have a further single sash to the right, all positioned to sill band level. The first floor tripartite sashes are fitted with cast iron balconettes, except No.3 which has a tent hood on lattice standards with decorative balustrade carried on four iron brackets and without glazing bars. To the right in Nos.2–6 single sashes have sunk panel aprons. The ground floor has paired sashes to Nos.1 and 6, and tripartite sashes to the remainder, with arched doorways in deep reveals to the right containing original panelled doors and decorative fanlights (though these are plain to Nos.2, 3, and 6). The basement level has sashes set in areas contained by spear-head railings, with stonework curbs to rounded profile and landings in stone flags carried on quadrant vaults.

The front elevation is richly articulated. The ground floor is rusticated beneath a deep plain band, which is recessed at the tripartite sashes. A sunk arch runs above the first floor, where a frieze band is stepped back at the windows. A moulded cornice with blocking course and parapet runs across, inflected at the end houses; this detail returns along the north-west end facing Widcombe Crescent. The north-west end features paired twelve-pane above four:twelve:four pane tripartite sashes, with a guilloche band at first floor and plain band to ground floor; twelve-pane sashes appear at basement level. The coping carries three stone urns, and paired mansard hips are divided by a deep ashlar stack. Coped party divisions and five deep ashlar stacks are visible. The parapet steps at the end houses.

The rear elevation includes various dormers: paired sashes to No.1, two-light small-pane casements to No.2, a replacement sash to No.3, two single sashes to No.4, and single sashes to Nos.5 and 6. Below these, each house has sash windows in plain reveals, with mid-storey sashes to staircases; these are variously twelve-pane, sixteen-pane, or plain, and No.1 has blind windows to the right. The main rear range has a moulded cornice with blocking course and parapet; Nos.4, 5, and 6 have a timber fillet inset to the wall immediately below the cornice. Various extensions to outer doors are linked by ashlar boundary walls; No.3 has a square opening and iron gate, with small areas containing basement windows. The south-east end has a high parapet to a flat centre covering a double hipped roof, with one small light and one blind light in plain walling below.

The staircase to No.3 was rebuilt in 1983. No.4 was subdivided in 1959.

This is a very grand terrace, built as an ensemble with the adjacent Widcombe Crescent and described as one of the most attractive minor ensembles in Bath. The finely articulated rear elevations show the influence of Robert Adam. The relationship between the double bowed north-west end and the neighbouring crescent displays a highly developed sense of picturesque composition. The unusual arrangement places the principal elevations facing outwards towards fine south-westerly views across the valley to Lyncombe Hill, requiring that the rear of the houses face onto the street. The gardens behind are reached via bridges running across the rear areas to a broad paved terrace. The terrain was fully exploited in this design.