1-30 The Circus including Circus House, Bennett Street

This circular development consists of thirty-three houses arranged in three segments to form a complete circle, with three entrances. The scheme was begun in 1754 by John Wood the Elder and completed by John Wood the Younger after his father's death in 1769. It stands as one of the most dramatic examples of Neoclassical town planning in Britain and forms a pivotal element in the sequence of major urban compositions designed by the Woods, rising up from Queen Square to the Royal Crescent.

Overall Design and Materials

Built of limestone ashlar with double-pitched slate roofs, moulded stacks, and dormers. The terraces comprise three storeys with attics and basements, ranging from three to five windows wide. Individual houses have double-depth plans of varying widths arranged to make three terraces of equal length. The three segments are: Nos. 1-10 with No. 1 Brock Street between Gay Street and Brock Street; Nos. 11-19 with No. 36 Brock Street between Brock Street and Bennett Street; and Nos. 20-30 with Circus House, Bennett Street, between Bennett Street and Gay Street.

Architectural Treatment

The facades display three storeys enriched with superimposed orders of Roman Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian plain-shafted paired engaged columns—108 columns to each terrace—that articulate the facades and carry appropriate entablatures. The second floor windows are six-over-six-pane sashes, first floor windows have lowered sills to accommodate six-over-nine-pane sashes, and ground floors and basements have six-over-six-pane sash windows. Some early 19th-century balconettes have been added and doors altered from eight raised and fielded panels to six panels with overlights.

Continuous parapets have moulded coping with oval openings to each bay pierced later. Piers above columns are crowned with large acorn finials. The frieze to the uppermost modillion cornice is ornamented with masks, all different, flanked by richly carved festoons. The Doric entablature of the first floor features emblematic metope reliefs in the frieze—525 in total, many based on George Wither's 1635 Book of Emblemes—which are unprecedented in Georgian architecture and of the first importance. Entrances are reached via bridges over exceptionally wide front areas, with extensive wrought ironwork in situ.

South-West Segment (Nos. 1-10 and No. 1 Brock Street)

This section was the first to be built and stood alone for several years.

No. 1, the left terminal, has a three-window range with stacks to the rear. Tall trellised balconettes with lead stars at the angles appear to the centre and right of the first floor. The left entrance features an early 19th-century six-panel door, glazed at the top with inverted corners to the centre. Windows are without horns. The left return in Gay Street is a four-window range with three dormers. The parapet sweeps down to the cornice, which is returned, though the ground floor cornice is without mutules. Moulded architraves frame the windows; the second floor right-of-centre window is blind, as are the ground floor right-of-centre and right windows. A lead downpipe runs down the right side.

No. 2 has a three-window range with horns to all windows. First floor windows have balconettes. The former eight-panel door to the right has been cut down to six panels with a margin-paned overlight. The interior (inspected 1974, 1978) includes a ground floor front room with a Victorian cornice, while the back room has a bow window, deep cove cornice, Venetian window, and elliptical-arched sideboard recess. The staircase has Doric newels and a heavy mahogany handrail, Doric colonnette on vase banisters, timber open treads with key pattern tread ends, and two elliptical arches at the top. The first floor features an octagon with original deep cove cornice, French window to a late Georgian balcony, and cupboards. The front room has a modillion cornice and double doors with Regency reeded architraves with corner blocks with rosettes. There is a six-panel ovolo door with cyma-moulded architrave. The back room has an unenriched modillion cornice with rosettes.

No. 3 has a four-window range, windows with horns and trellised balconettes to the first floor. The door, right of centre, has seven raised and fielded panels and is glazed at the top. The path to the door features late 19th-century black-and-white tesserae. The interior (photographed 1981) shows a wide wooden staircase with turned columnar wooden balusters and a row of four Corinthian marble (or scagliola) pilasters in the hallway of ceiling height, with pink marbled or scagliola Corinthian columns with white painted capitals and matching pilaster responds against front and spine walls supporting the beam below the balustrade of the first floor landing, which has square coffers with rosettes on its soffit. The original timber staircase has a heavy moulded ramped handrail with Doric newels and Doric colonnette on vase banisters. There are overdoors, one with a pediment, the other with a frieze and cornice, to the front room. The stairwell has a modillion cornice, a plaster string course with key pattern at first floor level, and a ramped dado to the staircase with wide rococo wall panels, their mouldings interrupted by and alternating with rocaille ornament including floral festoons hanging from bows.

No. 4 has a three-window range with horns to first and ground floor windows and semi-elliptical plan trellised balconettes to the first floor. There are no horns to second floor windows or the plate glass basement windows. The seven-panel door to the right is glazed at the top with a lozenge motif in the central panels. The basement front room (formerly the kitchen) contains a full-height 18th-century dresser with four shelves supported on moulded brackets and solid ends, each projecting further than the one below with a crowning cornice, and drawers below the worktop supported by Doric newels supporting moulded timber brackets. The garden's original layout was excavated and restored by Bath Archaeological Trust in 1985-86, with the outline and planting areas of the original Georgian garden found.

No. 5 has a three-window range, all windows with horns and those to the first floor with trellised balconettes. The seven-panel door to the right is glazed at the top. The first resident was the Earl of Stanhope, a cousin of Pitt the Elder.

No. 6, built for Lady Lucy Stanhope (mother of the Earl of Stanhope at No. 5), remains largely intact with a 19th-century extension to the rear. The Stanhopes employed Italian plasterers to decorate the house. The hall has the original stone floor with black slate inserts, a moulded cornice with dentils, and plasterwork panels with swags and tails depicting fruit and flowers. The cantilevered stone staircase features a mahogany handrail. The eight-panel front door has internal moulding and a corkscrew chain security lock. The ground floor room overlooking the garden has cornices with palmette and acanthus leaves with rope moulding, and the fireplace has a white and ochre alabaster marble fireplace. The first floor front drawing room has a cornice with a large central diamond-shaped lozenge of rinceau foliage, an inner circuit of flowers and fruit moulding, and in each corner an arabesque motif. The marble fireplace has a central motif of vine leaves and grapes. Three sash windows (one-over-one) have a pair of two-panel shutters and a soffit board with a panel. In the rear drawing room is a remarkable plaster ceiling, Rococo in spirit, with an overall design of flowers and foliage comprising interlocking circles and diamonds. The white marble fireplace has a central cherub's head with a garland of flowers on each side. The grate has a design of flowers and foliage. The second floor front room has similar moulded features to the floor below with no fireplace but a six-panel door and three six-over-six sash windows with three-panel two-leaf shutters and a panelled soffit. The rear room has wall panelling to the dado, three one-over-one sash windows in a curved bay, and three-panel two-leaf shutters. No. 6 has a three-window range with a central seven-panel door glazed at the top. An octagonal single-storey extension at the rear was added in 1997 by Edward Nash, architects.

Nos. 7 and 8 now form one property, The Circus Nursing Home. No. 7 has a four-window range without horns to windows. The left centre door has eight raised and fielded panels. The house was built for William Pitt the Elder (1708-1778), Prime Minister and sometime Member of Parliament for Bath (1757-1766), who lived at No. 7, which was originally interconnected with No. 8, home of his sister. No. 7's staircase was the main staircase to these united houses, with metal stringing and moulded open soffits. The mahogany banister rail ends in a curved newel post. There are black and white marble tiles and a stone fireplace with a deep stone hearth. The ground floor garden room has indented wall panels with egg and dart surround, a painted wooden mantelpiece and surround with a decorative cast iron fireback. The ceiling rose has a design of six leaves with a daisy between. The ground floor front room has a grey and white marble fireplace with cup and ball paterae, with an indented panel at the sides and across. The first floor ante-room has an ornate ceiling rose with acanthus leaves and rosettes, eight wall panels of ornamental broadleaf border with four ornamental motifs of ribbon bow with diminishing drop. The fireplace has a white marble mantelpiece and surround with a relief of two classic female faces. The fire grate is Edwardian. The small room off the garden room has a cornice of flowers interspersed with cross branches with a running festoon of laurel leaves beneath, interspersed with dentils and ovolo. The fireplace is wooden, with an ornately festooned surround and a later addition of mirrors above. The cast iron fire grate is Edwardian. The first floor front room contains very elaborate rococo ceiling work, and there are very fine rococo garlands in plaster panels on the staircase.

No. 8 has a three-window range without horns to windows. The door to the right, glazed at the top, has inverted corners cut into raised and fielded panels. The ground floor front room has a plain ceiling with ovolo moulded cornice, the head decorated with waterleaf and tongue. The black marble fireplace and two six-over-six sash windows are replacements. Acanthus rosettes appear at the upper corners of the architrave and the foot is closed by a plain rectangular block. The garden room has a plain ceiling with alternate broad and narrow curved leaves radiating from the centre. The cornices are finely decorated with waterleaf and tongue, beads, urns, and calyx features. The white marble fireplace has fluted verticals closed at the base by a plain square block, with a foliated patera above. A flue damper control sits above the fireplace. The fluted horizontal below the mantle shelf has a geometric, rectangular panel at the centre. Five-panel shutters on windows are metal lined with security bars. The house was restored back to a house at the end of the 20th century and is now a nursing home.

No. 9 has a three-window range without horns to windows and semi-elliptical plan balconettes to the first floor. The seven-panel door to the left is glazed at the top. An overthrow and lamp are attached to the railings. A two-storey octagonal extension at the rear was added in 1785. The interior (recorded 1991, divided into flats) includes a ground floor octagonal room with octagonal scrolled leaf and reeded ceiling frieze, acanthus leaf cornice, and ceiling rose. An oval window to the hall door to the garden was inserted in place of a lower sash window with a decorative glass panel. The hall has a groin-vaulted ceiling with two ceiling roses and panelled walls. The inner hallway is approached through reeded and fluted Ionic pilasters, with a coved and coffered soffit with inset flowers. The inner panel has convex reeded moulding wrapped with a ribbon. Venetian windows appear on the stairs at the half landing. The ground floor library has an arched roof with moulded cornice and scroll and foliage below the ceiling frieze, plaster wall moulding, and corner pilasters. There are good plaster ceilings throughout. The Marquess of Caernarvon was the first owner of No. 9. Many features were introduced by Colonel and Mrs Jenner during the 1940s. The ornate first floor drawing room mantelpiece of carved wood, made to resemble stone, was brought from a house in Grosvenor Square in the 1930s. The drawing room on the second floor has Edwardian bolection moulded panelling brought from a house in Dartmouth by the Jenners. The house was restored back to a single house at the end of the 20th century. The entrance hall has semi-circular cross vaults with rococo enrichment at their crowns leading to a semi-circular arch in the spine wall with plaster flowers in the coffers on its soffit supported on Ionic three-quarter columns. The front room has a plaster cove with rococo plaster ornament at its corners and an enriched plaster frame round the plain ceiling, a modillion cornice, corner pilasters, dado, and fireplace with enriched architrave. The back room is long with a bow at the end with Regency columns. The octagonal room behind the staircase has a coved ceiling. The staircase is stone with a Palladian modillion profile to the moulded soffit of each step and outward canted iron balusters designed to accommodate spreading crinoline skirts. The first floor front room has a lovely enriched plaster rococo ceiling consisting of a central rose framed by four C-scrolls surrounded by naturalistic entwined sprays of leaves, the whole framed in a regular oval frame from which garlands of roses are suspended, the whole framed by a broad border of scrollwork interrupted by delicate long sprays of foliage at the four corners. The house was illustrated in Country Life on 14 and 21 November 1947.

No. 10, the right terminal of the south-west crescent, has a three-window range with horns to windows except those on the ground floor which have some crown glass. The seven-panel door to the left is glazed at the top. The right return is similar to that of No. 1 with blind windows to two left-hand ranges and a lead bell-shaped rainwater head and downpipe to the left. The interior (inspected 1975, 1987, 1990) includes an archway to the hall with fluted Doric pilasters. The broad wooden staircase has columnar newels and an arched recess to the stair half-landing with an elaborate coffered hood and shell device. There is an early 19th-century extension to the landing. The fire surround in the ground floor front room is a mantelpiece of Siena marble with copper inlay of a neo-classic recurring design, brought from the Crimson Drawing Room of Beckford's Tower, Lansdown, Bath. It was installed in the consulting room of a former owner. In addition, the Siena marble console table was also brought from the tower. The library ceiling in the consulting room was also reputedly from the Tower. The entrance hall contains the massive Siena marble side table, its top supported on squat Greek Doric columns, which formerly stood in the "Ante Room to the Dining Room" at Beckford's Tower. The front room contains the "mantelpiece of Siena marble with copper inlay of scenes from the Parthenon" formerly in the Crimson Drawing Room at Beckford's Tower. The second floor larger front room has an enriched cornice, an enriched classical fireplace with guilloche pattern on the corona of the cornice. The smaller front room has the same cornice and an enriched classical fireplace with an ornamented frieze. The back room has a plain classical cornice and an enriched classical fireplace with delicate scrollwork in the frieze, with tiles with mauve scenes to the open recess.

Northern Segment (Nos. 11-19 and No. 36 Brock Street)

No. 11, left terminal of the northern crescent, has a five-window range. Windows have horns and splayed reveals, those to the first floor have trellised balconettes. The eight-panel door to the left of centre is glazed at the top. The entrance hall has a bracketed cornice. The staircase hall has an arch in the central wall with a fanlight and delicate plaster ornament on the soffit. The staircase has open treads and two Doric colonnettes on vase banisters per tread. The first floor landing has a modillion and rosette cornice.

No. 12 has a three-window range. Windows have horns, those to the first floor have balconettes with inverted anthemion motifs to top rails. The seven-panel door to the left has raised and fielded panels and is glazed at the top.

No. 13 has a three-window range, those to first and ground floors have horns. The seven-panel door is glazed at the top.

No. 14 has a four-window range. Windows have horns. The six-panel door to the left of centre has raised and fielded panels and a plain overlight. An overthrow with a scrolled lamp bracket is attached to the railings. Lord Clive lived here in 1774. A mid-20th-century photograph shows a large open well stair with elaborate cast iron rails in the Louis XV manner, probably dating from around 1840, and an encaustic tiled floor.

No. 15 has a three-window range with horns to windows except those in the basement, trellised balconettes to the first floor, and a seven-panel door glazed at the top to the left.

No. 16 has a three-window range. Windows have horns, balconettes with lead ornament to vertical glazing bars. The six-panel door to the left has a large plain overlight and cast iron knocker.

No. 17 is similar to No. 16 with a lantern in the overlight and balconettes to first floor windows. Thomas Gainsborough lived here from 1767 to 1774. The basement staircase has a close moulded string with Doric colonnettes. The front room fireplace is blocked and has two windows with segmental inner arches. The back room has original ovolo-moulded window sashes. The ground floor front room has two windows with box shutters, a fine enriched modillion cornice, an elliptical arched sideboard recess with delicate scrolls and vine leaves on the soffit of the arch, dado, and a white and Siena marble fireplace. The front room was probably Gainsborough's picture room, while his painting would have been carried out in the interconnecting room to the rear. The back room has an enriched modillion cornice, a six-panel ovolo door, an ovolo panelled dado, and two-panel boxed shutters with ovolo architraves. The first floor larger front room has a late 18th-century Adamesque cornice with fluted frieze and medallions and acanthus leaves on the soffit. The smaller front room has a matching cornice, window, and door.

No. 18 has a four-window range. Windows have horns except those in the basement, balconettes to first floor windows, and a seven-panel door to the left-of-centre, glazed at the top. The basement front room (recorded 1980s, 1990s) has an original stone bolection moulded fireplace and unmoulded box shutters. The rear room has been completely redesigned. The back room has a bay with a single central window with box shutters. The first floor front room has a remodelled fireplace with Ionic columns with elliptical paterae above, a central motif with flutes either side divided by beading. The original staircase has a Venetian window on the half landing. Elaborate cornice mouldings have been "faithfully copied" where the rooms have been divided up for flats.

No. 19, right terminal of the northern crescent, has a three-window range with high cast iron balconettes to the first floor. The roof is hipped to the left. Windows facing The Circus have horns except those in the basement. The entrance is in the right return in Bennett Street, a five-window range where the parapet sweeps down the cornice. The second and first floor modillion cornices are returned, and the mutule cornice to the ground floor is returned as a simple moulding. Most windows are blind with moulded architraves; six-over-six-pane sash windows appear—two to the second floor right, one to the first floor right and centre, and one to the ground floor right. The central prostyle porch has a mutule cornice, triglyph frieze, and double 19th-century ten-panel doors in a moulded architrave.

Circus House, right terminal of the south-east crescent, has a five-window range to the entrance facade in Bennett Street. The parapet sweeps down to the returned cornice in front of four 20th-century dormers. Six-over-six-pane sash windows (some with horns) appear; blind windows are to the right of centre. Returned modillion cornices appear to the upper floors, and the mutule cornice to the ground floor of the right return is simplified to the front. The central Tuscan doorcase has engaged columns, entablature and pediment, and a five-panel door glazed at the top. The right return, with two windows facing The Circus, has splayed reveals and cast iron balconettes to the second floor. "BENNETT STREET" and "CIRCUS" are carved into the platband.

South-East Segment (Nos. 20-30)

Nos. 20-30 have three-window ranges with doors to the right.

No. 20 has horns to sash windows, trellised balconettes to the first floor, splayed reveals to first and ground floors, and an early 19th-century six-panel door to the right with an ornamented overlight.

No. 21 is similar to No. 20 with a seven-panel door with an oval glazed panel to the top.

No. 22 is similar to No. 20 (no horns to basement windows) with an early 19th-century seven-panel door glazed at the top and a plaque reading "Here dwelt Major Andre AD 1770" (Andre was shot as a spy by the American Colonists during the War of Independence).

No. 23 is similar to No. 20 with vertical-barred balconettes to the second floor. The interior (inspected 1993) includes an entrance hall with modillion cornice and original dado with cyma-moulded rail and ovolo panels and cyma and ovolo skirting. Regency doors appear in a moulded arch in the central wall with a panelled soffit with rococo rosettes. The staircase has cut strings, Baroque tread ends with three guttae per bracket, a mahogany handrail with Doric colonnettes on vase banisters. The front room has an enriched modillion cornice with rosettes, ovolo boxed shutters with wide moulded architraves, Regency skirting, and attractive built-in mahogany bookcases in arched recesses either side of the modern fireplace with doors glazed with diagonal bars and margins over drawers and cupboard doors. The back room has a bow with three windows. The third floor retains original attic stairs with Doric colonnette banisters and a back room with a bay window.

No. 24 is similar to No. 23 with scrolled balconettes to the first floor and a seven-panel door glazed at the top.

No. 25 is similar to No. 20 with a seven-panel door glazed at the top. There is a large early 19th-century rear extension and a sub-basement. A plaque records that the painter Thomas Gainsborough lived here (this is erroneous: he lived at No. 17). The interior (inspected 1982, 1985) reveals evidence of extensive early 19th-century remodelling. The original stairs have Doric colonnettes. The ground floor rooms have double connecting doors; no fireplaces survived on the ground floor. The first floor has very fine pair of Victorian white marble console fireplaces and double doors connecting rooms, as well as a fine central rose with acanthus and sunflowers. There is a fine early 19th-century stained glass fanlight over the door to the rear. A dumb waiter appears to the rear of the first floor. The hall has a chair rail to the lower flight of stairs. The cellar has an elliptical stone vault and a small front wine cellar.

No. 26 is similar to No. 20 with horns to the second floor, lower trellised balconettes to the first floor, and a six-panel door with a reeded lintel and plain overlight. The basement and sub-basement have thick glazing bars.

No. 27 is similar to No. 24; the seven-panel door has an oval pane to the top and a plaque to Parry. There is a basement and sub-basement. The interior (inspected 1975, 1982, 1985) includes a sub-basement with a front room having an elliptical-stone-vaulted cellar and small wine cellar in front; the back room has a flat ceiling. The basement front corridor has an arch to a dresser between storage cupboards. The front room has no cornice and a cast iron range by C. Wills and Son, Bath, and a timber dresser to the back wall. The back room has a rococo 18th-century fireplace with carved shell and scrollwork in a deep frieze. The ground floor hall has a delicate cornice with acanthus enrichment over a fluted frieze, dado to the lower flight of staircase, and an inner Regency door. The staircase has open treads, Baroque double C-curved tread ends, a wide mahogany handrail, and Doric colonnettes over vase banisters. The front room has a modillion cornice, panelled ovolo shutters, six-panel doors with reeded Regency architraves with corner roundels, and a painted Regency reeded fireplace with corner roundels. The back room with a very large early 19th-century back extension with a food lift has a cornice with acanthus leaves and guilloche pattern on the soffit, an oval central rose with palm leaves and beading, early 19th-century skirting, a reeded Victorian black marble fireplace with elaborate consoles supporting the mantelpiece, and an original ovolo-moulded six-panel door with later astragals with indented corners. The first floor front room has a cornice with acanthus leaves and beads and scrollwork to the soffit, a fine central rose with acanthus leaves and a sunflower in the middle, three windows with splayed shutters, six-panel doors with Regency reeded architraves and roundels, eight-panel double doors to the back room, and an early 19th-century grey marble fireplace. The back room has a cornice, rose, and joinery detail all as the front room and a plain white marble early 19th-century fireplace. The half landing has a fine early 19th-century stained glass fanlight over the door to the back addition. The second floor landing has an arch at the top of the stairs springing from moulded imposts. The front small room has an original small moulded cornice and windows with narrow ovolo architraves.

No. 28 has no horns to windows, cast iron balconettes to the first floor, and an early 19th-century five-panel door glazed at the top with a studded frame. There is a basement and sub-basement.

No. 30, right terminal of the south-east crescent, has a three-window range with a sub-basement. The six-panel door to the right has diagonal square panes to the overlight. The right return is similar to that of No. 1 with blind windows to the two left-hand ranges and a lead bell-shaped rainwater head and downpipe to the left.

Interiors: General Character

Considerable diversity is encountered within, in contrast with the regimented exteriors. Several houses display considerable ingenuity of planning, and the involvement of lessees in the arrangements is demonstrated by the variety in treatment of rear elevations. Many interiors retain significant 18th-century and early 19th-century features including enriched plasterwork, fine chimneypieces, original staircases, and decorative joinery.

Central Area

The circular area is 318 feet in diameter. Originally fenced and gravelled, it was grassed with trees introduced by the early 19th century (planting and lawn introduced by 1829).

Historical Context

The Circus forms a pivotal element in the succession of major urban set-pieces designed by the Woods, rising up from Queen Square to the Royal Crescent, and is one of the most dramatic examples of Neoclassical town planning in the country. Nine acres of pasture known as the Hayes were assigned to the Woods by the Garrard family in 1753. John Wood the Elder died before work got underway, but the radical conception of the Circus is thought to be his, including the soon-abandoned notion of the circular space as a place for the muscular exercises of the youth of Bath. He lived long enough to see the foundation stone laid in February 1754.

Considerable ground levelling was required before house construction got underway. The first building leases were granted in 1755 for plots in the south-west segment; William Pitt the Elder was among the first undertakers. The northern segment was the last to be built, with leases being granted in 1764-66. The present appearance of the centre of the Circus dates from the late Georgian period: prior to this, the Circus was entirely paved with setts. The Woods originally intended an equestrian statue of George II to grace the open space, in keeping with the Roman theme of the ensemble; a water reservoir graced the centre of the Circus until the trees were planted.

Wood's conception drew on his keen interest in British antiquarianism and the origins of architecture. Another important influence was Inigo Jones's design for Whitehall Palace of around 1638, with its circular courtyard; some of the metope reliefs are taken from this source too. The remarkable richness, visual and intellectual, of the 525 emblematic metope reliefs (many based on George Wither's 1635 Book of Emblemes) are unprecedented in Georgian architecture and are of the first importance.

The Circus as a set-piece is unassertive seen from outside, and imposingly monumental from within. Smollett's Humphry Clinker (1771) dismissed the Circus as "a pretty bauble, contrived for shew, and looks like Vespasian's amphitheatre turned outside in". It is among the great set-pieces of Georgian architecture.

The Circus was extensively restored after the Second World War: the uniform glazing bars date from the 1950s (the earliest programme of wholesale replacement) and the carved masonry to the fronts has also been renewed.