1-6, St Stephen'S Place

This is a group of six terrace almshouses built in 1843 by James Wilson. They are constructed from limestone ashlar with a scallop-tiled roof that was originally richly crested. Tall paired stacks are located on the returns and a moulded stack is on the axial valley.

The almshouses are two storeys high. Nos. 1 and 6 project forward, each having a single window front, while Nos. 2-5 have a two-window front. The windows have stone mullions and painted surrounds, with cinquefoil heads and sunk spandrels. They have weathered sills and three panes to each leaf, with hood moulds and label stops above. The Tudor arched, six-panel doors are glazed to the tops and have label moulds set on large blocks, possibly intended for carving. A sill band is located below the first-floor windows; paired cinquefoil-headed lights are below the gable, and single lights are above the door. A moulded string course runs continuously with the hood moulds over the windows. The parapet is moulded, rises above the gable of each unit, and features a shield or block to the apex, flanked by kneelers. No. 1 has three-light windows and thin offset buttresses to the stepped-forward gable end. A simple enclosed porch is situated on the left return, below the window and gable in the returned parapet, flanked by external stacks to tall-paired octagonal shafts with crenellated parapets. The rear of the buildings have similar windows with diagonal leading, and a moulded sill string to the first floor. The interiors have not been inspected.

The original design, documented in the British Architectural Library and reproduced in Neil Jackson’s Nineteenth Century Bath, was intended for sixteen almshouses with a hall and chapel in an institutional Tudor Gothic style. Had this design been fully realised, it would have resembled the Vicars' Close at Wells. As it stands, the row represents a good example of the final pre-Pugin phase of religious and philanthropic design.