13 Rivers Street and attached railings

The building at 13 Rivers Street is a house, later converted into flats, constructed between 1775 and 1780 as part of the Rivers Street development by John Wood the Younger. It is an important example of the planned development of Bath during the late 18th century.

The front of the house is built of limestone ashlar, with rubble stone to the basement and rear. It is three storeys high, with an attic and basement. The first floor features three grouped plate glass sash windows with horns, the outer windows being narrower and set in splayed reveals with stone sills and wrought iron balconettes. The second floor has three similar sash windows without balconettes. The ground floor has an eight/eight-pane sash window with a stone sill and wrought iron balconette to the right, and a six-panel door with flush beaded panels and glazed upper sections within a pedimented Doric doorcase. A pennant paved crossover is flush with the pavement. The basement has two plate glass sash windows in splayed reveals with a continuous stone sill, and a 20th-century window replaces a previous doorway under the crossover. A double dormer window with four/four-pane sashes is located on the roof. A timber bressumer and stone band course run over the ground floor, topped by a modillion cornice and coped parapet. The rear elevation, partially visible, displays plate glass and glazing bar sash windows, with an ashlar extension off the staircase to the second half-landing, featuring a glazing bar sash with coloured glass borders. The mansard roof has been rebuilt in ashlar to create a full third floor. The interior of the building has not been inspected. Attached to the front are wrought iron railings with shaped heads, set on painted limestone bases.

The construction of Rivers Street involved several landowners and lease agreements, with ground conveyed from Sir Benet Garrard, Sir Peter Rivers Gay, and Thomas and Daniel Omer to John Wood and his trustees. Records of building leases and rate books, alongside Walter Ison’s “The Georgian Buildings of Bath,” provide further historical context.