5 and 6, Macaulay Buildings

A pair of semi-detached villas, built between 1819 and 1830. The buildings are constructed of limestone ashlar with slate roofs. They have a broad frontage with double segmental bows and a wide single-span roof incorporating a cross wing. The rear of the buildings is full-height and deeper than the front, reflecting the slope of the site.

Each villa is two storeys high, with an attic and a basement, and originally had two windows each. No. 5 has a plain sash window above a four-pane window. No. 6 has replacement sixteen and twelve-pane sashes above a sixteen-pane window, with original panelled doors flanked by shallow transom lights, each with a cornice hood supported by brackets. Both buildings have a laylight to the basement. Shared features include a broad mid platband, a lintel, frieze, cornice, blocking course and a parapet; the cornice returns approximately 450mm to the gable ends. Each villa has two ashlar stacks. The return elevation of No. 5 is more complex than the others, with an external gable stack featuring sunk arched panels and plain bands, small flanking lights to the attic, and one to the right-hand side of the ground floor. The rear elevation of No. 5 has a later 19th-century gable with paired above triple arched lights. It also has a two-storey canted bay with triple arched windows above triple square headed lights. The return elevation of No. 6 is plain, and the rear has various glazing bar sashes.

The interior of No. 6, recorded by the Bath Preservation Trust in 1990, retains a flagged stone floor in the hall and original roof timbers. Between 1870 and 1926, No. 6 and two other houses in Macauley Buildings were part of an orphanage. These villas are part of a group of three pairs of similar but not identical villas, offering extensive views to the front and rear. The development was carried out by Thomas Macaulay Cruttwell, a solicitor, on land formerly known as `The Nedges'. He purchased the land in 1819, and the first house was completed in 1825, with the remainder finished in 1830. No. 5 has been more heavily modified than the others, while No. 6 has been restored to its original design.