No. 14 And Attached Railings, Crane And Overthrow

House, now flats. Built 1773-1775 and probably designed by John Wood the Younger. Altered in the 19th century.

The building is constructed in limestone ashlar to front and rear, with a double pile parapeted mansard roof covered in Welsh slate to both front and rear. The party walls are coped with two ashlar stacks to the left rear, fitted with early clay pots.

The plan is double depth with a staircase to the right rear and a projecting canted bay to the rear elevation.

The front elevation faces onto Alfred Street and comprises three storeys, an attic and a basement, organised as a three-window composition. The first floor contains three plate glass sashes in splayed cyma moulded architraves with friezes and cornices, with moulded stone sills on console brackets supporting wrought iron balconettes. The second floor has three six-over-six sashes in cyma moulded architraves with stone sills. The ground floor has to the left two plate glass sashes in splayed reveals with stone sills, surmounted by a continuous flat arch lintel. To the right is a six-panel door with flush beaded, fielded and glazed panels set one step up in an enriched stone doorcase. The doorcase has an enriched cyma moulded architrave in a flat surround with carved console brackets supporting an enriched moulded cornice, decorated with swags to the frieze. Above the cornice sits a swept plinth with carved foliate decoration and incised lettering reading ALFRED REX, supporting a bust of King Alfred and flanked by fluted urns. Two steps lead to a pennant paved crossover. The basement has two six-over-six sashes in plain reveals with stone sills and a six-panel door under the crossover; timber panelling with an overlight now infills the remaining opening, without door or glazing. Two single dormers contain two-over-two and six-over-six horned sashes with moulded architraves. A band course runs above the ground floor, and a modillion eaves cornice with coped parapet continues across Nos. 8-13 and No. 15 Alfred Street. A lead downpipe is attached to the right, shared with No. 15 Alfred Street.

The rear elevation is partially visible and features a full-height canted bay.

The interior was not inspected during the survey, but photographs from 1945 in the National Monuments Record record fine plaster ceilings and several chimneypieces with reeded surrounds and Siena marble slips, embellished with mythological relief ovals.

Attached to the property are wrought iron railings and two gates with shaped heads on limestone bases. A crane serving the very deep area below is attached, together with an overthrow decorated with scrollwork and two link-horns. This assembly of domestic architectural ironwork is an exceptional survival, testifying eloquently to the street lighting and domestic service arrangements of the mid-Georgian period.

The house was built as part of the northward expansion of Bath, associated with the construction of the Assembly Rooms across the street. The bust of King Alfred is particularly notable: Alfred was acquiring considerable stature at the time of building as a local hero and founder of the English nation, as evidenced by contemporary works such as Alfred's Tower at Stourhead, Wiltshire.