24 And 25, Sydney Buildings

A pair of houses, numbers 24 and 25 Sydney Buildings, were built around 1810, with an addition made in the mid-19th century. They occupy a sloping site alongside a canal. The buildings are constructed of limestone ashlar, painted to the ground floor, and have double-pitched slate and double Roman tile roofs with moulded stacks to the party wall. Originally a symmetrical four-window range, the right-hand building, number 24, has a later extension. A continuous coped parapet returns over the gable ends, and there are cornices and sill bands. The entrances feature six-panel doors with glazing to the tops, set under shallow pediments supported by narrow, plain pilasters with small rectangular windows within the pilasters. The windows are primarily six-pane sashes, although the rear of the building has eight-pane sashes to the upper floors and two-pane sashes to the ground floors. The parapet of the right wing of number 24 slopes down slightly without windows to the second floor, and sill bands continue. On the rear, a six/six-pane sash window is positioned above planked double doors with a six-pane overlight and a timber lintel. The interior of number 24, recorded by the Bath Preservation Trust's Interiors Survey in 1991, includes a cantilevered staircase constructed of stone for the lower two flights, with wood above, and an inlaid mahogany handrail. The drawing room, overlooking the canal and city, has moulded architraves to doors and windows with paterae to the corners, reeded plasterwork to ceilings with rosettes, and six-panelled doors.