1-16, Lansdown Place East

Lansdown Place East, Nos 1-16

A curved terrace of sixteen houses built between 1792 and 1795, designed by John Palmer, on a sloping site that rises from No. 1 to the right. Nos 4-9 were destroyed by bombing in World War II and rebuilt in facsimile.

The terrace is constructed in limestone ashlar with double pitched slate mansard roofs topped with moulded stacks to coped party walls. The buildings are three storeys with attics and basements, arranged on double-depth plans.

No. 1 occupies an acute-angle curved corner with Lansdown Road. It has three windows to the front, one to the corner and two to the right return, with a hipped roof to the right and stacks to the left party wall and rear. The parapet is articulated by piers over Ionic pilasters (six in all) flanking the outer ranges. A dentil cornice and plain frieze band sit above six/six-pane sash windows, some of which are blind. At ground floor level there is a set back six-panel door and overlight in an open projecting porch with reeded stone edges and a segmental curved roof supported by thin Tuscan columns on the side walls.

No. 2 has a two-window range with stopped cornice, six/six-pane sash windows to the second floor and six/nine-pane sashes with trellised balconettes to the first floor. The set back six-panel glazed door sits in a pedimented doorcase on Tuscan pilasters.

No. 3 is similar to No. 2 but with horns to the windows, splayed reveals to ground floor and a painted doorcase.

Nos 4-9, rebuilt after wartime damage, follow the similar original style.

No. 10 has a three-window range with modillion cornice, horned six/six-pane sash windows and a set back six-panel glazed door in a plain opening.

No. 11 has a three-window range with a higher 19th-century roof and modillion cornice (damaged at centre). The windows are horned six/six-panes to the second floor, six/nine-panes with lowered sills and splayed jambs to the first floor and six/six-panes to the ground floor, all with balconettes and painted sills. The set back six-panel door and overlight are set in a plain opening with rolled arrises.

No. 12 has a three-window range with plate glass sash windows where those to the second and ground floors have stuck-on glazing bars, some missing. Lowered sills and balconettes sit on the first floor. The set back six-panel door has a radial fan set into the overlight.

No. 13 has a three-window range with painted splayed reveals and sills to six/six-pane sash windows with balconettes on scroll supports. The six-panel glazed door sits in a plain opening.

No. 14 is similar to No. 13 with balconettes to the first floor only and a 20th-century door and overlight.

No. 15 has a three-window range with balconettes to horned plate glass windows, lowered sills to the first floor and a six-panel glazed door beneath a 19th-century swept ogee canopy with delicate fretted frieze.

No. 16, the left terminal, has a three-window range with horned six/six-pane sash windows and canted balconettes to the first floor. The left entrance return features two/two-pane sash windows to the centre of both upper floors over a single storey enclosed porch with cornice and blocking course. Tall keystones frame semicircular arches over a plate glass window to the front and one to the right of the porch, lighting an inner lobby, with the entrance to the left. Within the porch is a six-panel door and overlight.

The coped parapets return slightly to the right to accommodate the stepping up of the site, and cornices and sill courses run across the upper floors throughout.

Interiors

No. 1 was recorded by the Bath Preservation Trust survey of interiors in 1993. Built and commissioned by Spackman, the house contains a Gothick door with overpainted coloured glass panels on a half landing between ground and first floor. The original staircase and most other features survive, along with original stone-flagged floors in the kitchen.

No. 3 was also recorded by the Bath Preservation Trust in 1993. It contains a four-flight cantilevered wooden staircase with most fireplaces retained. A room on the first floor had interconnecting doors, now blocked up. A second floor cupboard has a six-panelled door and an enclosed staircase to the third floor. Box-framed cupboards are located in the rear bedrooms.

No. 10 was recorded by the Bath Preservation Trust survey in 2001. Though the house suffered bomb damage in 1942, many of the original mouldings appear to have been retained. The hall contains an open stringed wooden staircase with wooden balusters, every sixth in metal, and a plaster frieze with bucrania. An ornate white marble fireplace sits on the ground floor, with a 20th-century kitchen to the rear. The first floor drawing room contains a later fireplace.

No. 16 was recorded by the Bath Preservation Trust survey in 1994. The house contains a stone cantilevered staircase with stone half landing built at a later date, and a Venetian window added subsequently. The hall features a plaster frieze with bucrania and the library arch is highly decorated with a white stone floor inset with black stone diamonds. Panelling frames the entrance. A stone staircase descends to the cellar with mahogany rail, metal newel post and every sixth baluster in metal. The front dining room fireplace was brought from Roundway House, Devizes and features two putti at the sides, a girl with pitcher and bowl, and an eagle. The ground floor kitchen has a large cupboard made of old Tudor linenfold panelling dated 1585, from Syston Court, Bitton, with similar cupboards across the opposite wall, probably circa 1860, made to match the earlier linenfold.

History

The terrace forms part of Spackman's ambitious development on the slopes of Lansdown Hill, though conceived on a less monumental scale than Lansdown Crescent. The extent of post-Blitz rebuilding is quite considerable. Nos 12 and 13 were listed separately on 11th August 1972.