1-12, QUEEN'S PARADE

Twelve consecutive terrace houses on the north-west side of Queen's Parade, backing onto Royal Victoria Park. Built between 1766 and 1770, designed by John Wood the Younger.

The terrace is constructed of limestone ashlar to both front and rear elevations, with double pitched slate roofs featuring dormers and moulded stacks rising above alternate coped party walls. Each house follows a double depth plan and rises three storeys with attics and basements. All houses have two-bay fronts with a continuous coped parapet, cornice, first floor sill band, ground floor platband and plinth. With the exception of Nos 1, 2, 3 and 12, the basements are painted.

Originally, each house was fitted with two dormers, six/six-pane sash windows and raised and fielded six-panel doors in moulded architraves, with paired but separate pedimented stone doorcases featuring engaged Ionic columns. Individual variations have developed over time.

No. 1 (right terminal) retains two paired dormers to the right, six/six-pane sash windows (those to first and ground floors with horns), and the original door and doorcase to the left. To the right return is a fixed small-paned window.

No. 2 has two dormers paired to the left, with splayed reveals to horned six/six-pane sash windows (without horns to basement). A single storey projecting porch features a returned cornice and blocking course with moulded architrave and cornice on consoles over a six-panel door.

No. 3 has plate glass sash windows to the two dormers, six/six-pane sashes without horns elsewhere. A similar porch to No. 2 stands to the left, glazed to the top, with a moulded architrave to a window in the right return.

No. 4 has two dormers paired to the left, horned plate glass sash windows (eight/eight-pane to basement), lowered sills to first floor, and a similar porch continuous with that of No. 3.

No. 5 features six/six-pane sash windows without horns to attic and second floor; horned six/six-pane sashes with lowered sills, splayed reveals and trellised balconettes with vertical key-pattern piers to first floor; horns to the ground floor six/six-pane sash and a twelve/twelve-pane sash without horns to basement. The porch, similar to those of Nos 3 and 4, has a six-panel door with cast iron mask knocker and a six/six-pane semicircular arched window with radial glazing bars to the right return.

No. 6 displays horned plate glass sash windows with lowered sills and fine trellised balconettes to first floor, with splayed jambs to first and ground floors and an eight/eight-pane sash without horns to basement. The porch follows the ground floor pattern of No. 5 and is low, three storeys with a returned coped parapet, cornice returned to the left, one window to second floor, two windows to first floor and a two/two-pane sash to the left return. A full height canted bay rises to the rear.

No. 7 has "QUEEN'S PARADE" carved into the platband over the party wall. It features six/six-pane sash windows with two dormers paired to the right, painted splayed reveals to main floors, lowered sills to first floor, horns and scrolled balconettes to first and ground floor windows, and an eight/eight-pane sash to basement. The porch dates to the mid-19th century, with three storeys, cornice, blocking course, clasping pilasters rising above the first floor cornice, and a stepped frieze. It has two two/two-pane windows to second floor, a moulded architrave and balconette to first floor, and a seven-panel door glazed to the top in an architrave reflecting miniature pilasters and entablature.

No. 8 has two dormers, horned plate glass sash windows (two/two-pane to basement), painted splayed reveals and sills, lowered first floor sills with a trellised balconette to the left, and a single storey porch and door similar to Nos 3 and 4.

No. 9 features two dormers with six/six-pane sash windows (eight/eight-pane without horns to basement), horned plate glass sashes with painted sills, splayed reveals to first and ground floors, and lowered sills with balconettes to first floor. The painted porch, formerly similar to Nos 3 and 4, was altered in the mid-19th century and now has a four-panel door with semicircular arched upper panels flanked by narrow semicircular arched windows with bracketed sills.

No. 10 has two dormers, horned six/six-pane sash windows, splayed reveals and simple balconettes to second floor, lowered sills and fine trellised balconettes to first floor.

No. 11 displays two dormers paired to the right, horned six/six-pane sash windows, a simple balconette to second floor right, lowered sills and fine trellised balconettes to first floor, and a six-panel door glazed to top in a porch similar to No. 2.

No. 12 (left terminal) has a left return high above Charlotte Street with double basement. It features two dormers paired to the left, horned plate glass sash windows, splayed reveals to main floor, a simple balconette to second floor left and a fine trellised balconette to first floor left. A low late-19th century three storey porch has a low coped returned parapet and cornice, two windows with panelled aprons, moulded sill bands and plinth to second floor, a first floor cornice lintel frieze, plinth and window with repositioned trellised balconette, and a returned ground floor cornice stepped out over a left-of-centre door. The cornice above is supported by pilasters and a lintel with recessed panels and large consoles, with a bolection-moulded six-panel door.

Interior details have not been fully inspected, though No. 1 was recorded by the Bath Preservation Trust's survey of interiors. This survey found a cantilevered wooden staircase with three column and baluster rails per tread and mahogany hand rail; panelled dado and modillion cornice throughout the ground floor reception rooms; six-panel doors and shutters to the ground floor front room (the wall dividing the front room from the hall was removed in the 1960s); a white marble late-18th century fireplace with console brackets, paterae and fluting to the frieze, and an original hob grate in the dining room; and a drawing room to the first floor front with modillion cornice and double doors connecting with a rear study. Bedrooms on the upper floor feature moulded cornices, six-panel doors, and plain mouldings to window and door architraves.

Queen's Parade was originally earmarked as the site for the Assembly Rooms but was dismissed as too cramped and situated on too steeply sloping a site. Leases for house-building were granted in 1766.