16-19, UNION STREET

UNION STREET, NOS 16-19

Shops with accommodation over, probably supervised by City Architect John Palmer but based on elevational designs by Thomas Baldwin dating to circa 1791. The building was constructed around 1806 with substantial alterations in the later 19th century (probably circa 1870), particularly affecting windows and the ground floor entrance to The Corridor in No.18, and further additions in the 20th century.

The four premises form the left-hand end of what was originally a balanced terrace of thirty-one bays extending between Northumberland Place and Cheap Street. Eight bays at the right-hand end were redeveloped in the 20th century, making the original design difficult to read. The terrace steps down the hill, creating an uneven appearance.

MATERIALS AND CONSTRUCTION

The building is constructed of painted Bath limestone ashlar with Welsh slate roofs, though the roofline is only partially visible from the street. The plan is of single depth, arranged back-to-back with Nos 6-10 Union Passage.

EXTERIOR

The elevation presents a balanced terrace of eleven bays arranged as two:seven:two, with the end sections set slightly forward. Nos 16 and 17 are two bays wide and three bays respectively, while Nos 18 and 19 share three bays. No.16 has additional frontage to Northumberland Place.

The building is three storeys with attics to Nos 18 and 19. The ground floor contains shopfronts except where the entrance to The Corridor passes through No.18, carried on two pink granite unfluted Greek Doric columns—an alteration probably dating to 1870 when the High Street entrance to The Corridor was similarly modified. The shopfronts are of late 20th-century date; Nos 16 and 17 have Regency or Victorian reproduction examples, while No.18 retains a late 19th-century shopfront.

The first-floor design is deliberately irregular to compensate for the falling ground level and to create a level base for the entablature and attic above. The second floor sits level on a sill band with a level cornice above. Giant Corinthian quarter-pilasters frame sets that project forward. The first floor contains two bays (No.16), three bays (No.17), and six bays (Nos 18 and 19) at different levels.

All first-floor windows are late 19th-century two-over-two plate glass sashes with plain reveals, except windows four, six and eight which have architraves and cornice heads. Windows ten and eleven feature recessed panels above them to further compensate for the falling ground.

Second-floor windows are six-over-six sashes in Nos 16 and 18 (plain in No.17 with the centre window blind), and two-over-two in No.19. The band, cornice, parapet and main roof are not visible from No.16 and 17. Nos 18 and 19 have mansard roofs, each with two flat-topped dormers fitted with six-over-six sashes. Ashlar chimney stacks with pots are present.

The Northumberland Place elevation of No.16 presents two bays, with a canted corner to the right, plain sashes to the first floor and six-over-six above with a blind centre window to the second floor. The corner is framed by quarter-Corinthian pilasters in antis. Two bays of reproduction Regency or Victorian shopfront occupy the ground floor.

HISTORY

Union Street was formed in 1806 to connect Stall Street to the Upper Town as part of the scheme of improvement for the city centre following the Bath Improvement Act of 1789. No.16 was listed on 11 August 1972 and No.19 on 5 August 1975.