1-9, Lansdown Place West

A convex crescent of nine terrace houses, numbered 1-9, was completed in 1792 by the architect John Palmer. The houses have undergone alterations in the 19th and 20th centuries. They are constructed of limestone ashlar with a double-pitched slate mansard roof and moulded stacks to the party walls. The houses are stepped steeply downhill, particularly noticeable between numbers 1 and 2.

The architectural style is of three storeys with attics and basements, featuring three-window fronts except for number 1, which has a four-window front. The houses retain coped parapets, modillion cornices, ground floor platbands, and plinths. The original, unaltered houses have a first floor sill band, six-panel doors with overlights, and six/six-pane sash windows. Number 1 has paired dormers with six/six-pane sash windows, horizontal glazing bars to two/two-pane sashes on the upper ground and first floors, lowered sills, and a balcony supported by cast iron brackets on the first floor. The right return features a late 19th-century entrance with steps leading to an eight-panel door with a semicircular fanlight, flanked by windows with semicircular arches and 20th-century glass protected by late 19th-century grilles. Paired engaged Tuscan columns support a pediment above the entrance, with a Venetian-style blind to the sides and a tripartite window above.

Number 2 has an altered roofline with 20th-century windows in dormers and plate glass sash windows. Number 3 has two 20th-century dormers, six/six-pane sash windows on the second floor, plate glass windows on the first and ground floors, and a five-panel door. Number 4 has a wide 19th or 20th-century dormer, eight/eight-pane sash windows on the second floor, two/two-pane sashes on the first floor, plate glass sashes on the ground floor, and a five-panel door. Number 5 has a large 20th-century dormer, splayed reveals to first and ground floor sash windows, balconettes to the first floor, and a five-panel door. Numbers 6, 7, and 8 appear to have been rebuilt, and possess six/six-pane sash windows; number 8 has balconettes to the first floor. Number 9, the terminal house, has a 20th-century roof and attic, six/six-pane sash windows on the second floor, plate glass sashes elsewhere, and a cast iron balcony to the first floor. A circa 1840 enclosed porch with engaged Tuscan columns and a five-panel door, featuring studded bolection moulded panels and a glazed top panel, is located on the right-hand side. The left return is a five-story wing, with an attic storey, second, first, ground, and lower ground floor, incorporating a circa 1840 semicircular plan with stone bracketed eaves and cast iron balconies to the first and ground floors. The interiors were not inspected during the listing process. Historical records indicate that William Beckford once occupied number 20 Lansdown Crescent and number 1 Lansdown Place West, constructing a bridge between the two and selling the property in 1832. Alterations to number 1, including the bridge, were likely undertaken by HE Goodridge.