12 Rivers Street and attached railings

Terrace house, now flats, dating from 1775-1780. Built as part of the Rivers Street development by John Wood the Younger.

The front is constructed of limestone ashlar, painted at ground floor level, with ashlar and rubble to the rear. The building has a double pile parapeted mansard roof with Welsh slate to the front and double Roman tiles to the upper slope at the rear, with Welsh slate to the lower slope. The party wall is coped with two ashlar stacks bearing early clay pots to the right.

The exterior comprises three storeys, an attic and basement. The first floor features a single plate glass horned sash in a splayed reveal with a stone sill and wrought iron balconette to the left, and three grouped plate glass horned sashes (narrower at the left and right) in splayed reveals with a continuous stone sill and wrought iron balconette to the right. The second floor is similarly treated with four comparable windows but without balconettes. The ground floor has a single sash in a partially splayed reveal with a stone sill and wrought iron balconette to the left, and three grouped sashes with a continuous wrought iron balconette rising high up the sides of the windows and ramping down to the centre front to the right. A six-panel door with flush, fielded and single glazed panel sits in a pedimented Doric doorcase at the centre left, with a concreted crossover flush with the pavement.

The basement contains a plate glass horned sash in a splayed reveal with a stone sill to the left, and two six-over-six sashes in splayed reveals with a continuous stone sill to the right. A plank door with wrought iron hinges in boarded infilling under the crossover is located to the right, with ashlar infilling to the left, and limestone area steps to the right fitted with an early 20th-century handrail. There are one single and one double dormer with plate glass sashes.

A band course runs over the ground floor, with a modillion cornice and coped parapet above. The rear elevation, partially visible, features plate glass sashes and a small ashlar extension.

Attached wrought iron railings and a gate with shaped heads on painted bases form subsidiary features.

Rivers Street was developed by John Wood the Younger on three parcels of land. Nos. 1-11 were constructed in conjunction with Catharine Place on ground conveyed on perpetual leasehold from Sir Benet Garrard to Wood and Brock as his trustee on 19-20 December 1766. Nos. 16-28 and 36-47 Rivers Street with areas behind Nos. 46 and 47 were conveyed from the Rivers Estate, owned by Sir Peter Rivers Gay, to Wood on 5 March 1768 for 99 years. Nos. 28-35 Rivers Street were constructed in conjunction with Russell Street on ground bought by John Wood and Andrew Sproule as his trustee from Thomas and Daniel Omer on 30 December 1768 on perpetual freehold rents. The strip of ground on which Nos. 12-15 and 48-50 Rivers Street were constructed was probably never acquired by Wood. The sites of Nos. 12-15 were conveyed from the Rivers Estate to Thomas and James Beale on 30 December 1774 and 16 October 1776 on perpetual freehold rents. A number of different Bath builders were responsible for implementing Wood's overall design.