36, Upper East Hayes

The property at 36 Upper East Hayes is a house dating from approximately 1760, with alterations from the 19th century. It forms part of an irregular terrace situated on a hillside north of London Road.

The house is constructed of coursed limestone rubble to the street frontage, and 18th-century ashlar to the garden front. It has a slate roof and moulded brick stacks to the gable ends. Originally planned as a three-unit dwelling with single-depth wings and a projecting service wing to the north front, it was made double-depth in the 19th century when the west wing was also remodelled.

The street front presents as a two-storey lean-to unit, with a single-storey passage extending forward, incorporating a repositioned 18th-century doorcase and a six-panel door. To the rear, the house has three storeys to the front, and two storeys with an attic and basement. The street façade has painted freestone surrounds with wide lintels over six/six-pane sash windows. A mezzanine window sits above a 19th-century half-glazed door with semicircular tops and bases to the upper panes. The service block to the left has a double-pitched hipped pantile roof and a timber lintel over a first-floor opening. It is believed there is a stone water tank and well within the structure.

The symmetrical south garden front features a crenellated parapet, a cornice, and a ground-floor platband that follows the contours of two full-height canted bays which flank a single-storey projecting stone porch. The porch has a restored crenellated parapet and cornice over a semi-elliptical arch supported by square section columns, with a 19th-century door similar to that on the street front. First-floor sash windows have six/six panes, while ground-floor windows have six/nine panes. The east wing’s first floor is set back with a plain parapet and cornice over a former Venetian window, now a tripartite sash. The ground floor is flush with the facade, continuing the platband over a semi-elliptical recess with a door to the right. The remodelled west wing is also flush with the facade and has a crenellated parapet. A two/six-pane sash window sits above the platband, and a semi-elliptical recess has 20th-century glazing.

The interior features 18th-century six-panel doors, panelled shutters, and a fitted mahogany cupboard with a key-pattern cornice, reeded frieze, and concave-cornered panels to the double doors of the top and base of a cupboard in the south-west room. Covered-over service stairs, originally external, are now enclosed within the 19th-century west wing. A 19th-century closed-string dogleg staircase with turned balusters and simple newels is located to the left of the hall. Original fireplaces have been repositioned.

The date of 1760 is specified in the deeds. The crenellated front with canted bays is notable for its picturesque design. The house was built as part of a row of former edge-of-town villas, designed to take advantage of the southward prospect over Bath, with the main architectural details oriented towards the south (garden) elevation.