Nos. 35-39 (Consec) And Attached Railings And Gates

Nos. 35-39 form a terrace of five houses dating to around 1790, located on the north side of Great Pulteney Street in Bath. The houses were designed by Thomas Baldwin, John Eveleigh, and other architects, as part of the late 18th-century development of the Bathwick estate east of the River Avon. Great Pulteney Street is exceptionally wide, at 100 feet, and represents a significant urban design of the period.

The houses are constructed of limestone ashlar with double-pitched slate roofs, dormers, moulded stacks, and some hand-thrown chimney pots to the coped party walls. Each house has a three-window front and features a continuous coped parapet (partly removed), a modillion cornice, frieze, and fascia, along with moulded sill string courses. The windows are six/six-pane sashes. The ground floor has a platband moulded to the base, with chamfered rustication and radial voussoirs to flat arches. The entrances are via raised and fielded panel doors, typically eight-panel doors with large overlights.

Distinctive features vary between the houses. No. 35 has rectangular balconettes to the first floor and interlocking semicircles to its overlight. No. 36 features balconettes on upper floors, a dentilled lintel below an inverted fan to its overlight, and a bronze plaque commemorating William Wilberforce who resided there in 1802 and 1805. No. 37 has trellised balconettes to the first floor, semicircular panes to its overlight, and a semi-oval lead rainwater head with a dentil cornice and castellated top on the party wall with No. 38. No. 38 has a giant order fluted Corinthian pilaster to the left of centre, while No. 39 has a similar pilaster to the right of centre and a quarter pilaster to the right-hand angle, which aligns with No. 40 (listed separately). The centre first-floor window in No. 39 has a dentil pediment on narrow paired pilasters with consoles below, incorporating paterae to the frieze and triple festoons.

Interior features are varied; an elliptical arch in No. 25's hall was replaced in the late 20th century. No. 36, inspected in 1975, contains a 12-foot dresser with turned legs in the basement. No. 39 has a Victorian marble fireplace with a rectangular sideboard recess, and an early Victorian marble fireplace to the rear. Original mouldings on the first floor survive, along with early 19th-century fireplaces and doors.

The terrace is fronted by square-section iron railings with urn finials, vases above plinths, and gates leading to basement areas. No. 39 has a particularly fine wrought iron scrolled overthrow with urn finials.

Great Pulteney Street was originally designed by Robert Adam in 1782, but Thomas Baldwin was responsible for the actual construction. Progress on the development was delayed by a building crash in the mid-1790s. No. 37 was briefly listed on 14th July 1955 and was the site of the Bathwick Estate Co. office in 1954.