Bath District Register Office

The Bath District Register Office, originally a savings bank and later a museum, was constructed in 1841 by George Alexander. It is a substantial limestone ashlar building with a hidden roof, designed in the Italian Renaissance style. The rectangular block is three stories high and features three bays. Long and short quoins rise the full height of the building on its four corners. The ground floor features six/six sash windows set within moulded architraves, with a later 19th-century projecting Ionic porch and panelled double doors located on the north west side. A platband runs along the first floor level. Above, three taller windows are six/six sashes with pedimented surrounds incorporating Ionic half columns on blocks and a balustraded apron; the pediments are triangular, flanking segmental designs mirroring those on the Palazzo Farnese. A sill band marks the second floor, hosting three/three-sash windows, also within moulded architraves. A deep modillion cornice tops the building, with ashlar stacks visible on the west and north walls, and centrally. The northeast elevation is similarly styled, with the right-hand bay doorway lacking a porch, instead featuring a simple architrave and cornice. The west wall is plain ashlar with limited openings – a single six/six sash window on each of the ground and first floors, and two three/three sashes above. The rear elevation is faced in plain ashlar with rusticated quoins and platbands, punctuated by five windows. Three chimney stacks rise from the rear wall head. The ground and first floor rear windows are six/six sashes; the second floor features three/three sashes. The interior remains uninspected. Originally built as the Bath Savings Bank, the design reflected the contemporary styling popularized by Charles Barry’s Reform Club. It signifies the Early Victorian era's burgeoning commercial building trend and the city's westward expansion, representing one of the earliest examples of the Italian Palazzo style outside of London, and an early precedent for bank architecture. The building was acquired by Holbourne Trustees in 1890 and served as the Holbourne Museum from 1893 until its relocation to Great Pulteney Street in 1916.