No. 46 And Attached Railings

House, now flats. Built 1770-1775. Part of the Rivers Street development by John Wood the Younger.

The front elevation is constructed of limestone ashlar with three storeys, an attic storey and a basement, arranged across a three-window width. The roof is a double pile parapeted mansard with Welsh slate to the front and double Roman tiles to the rear, with a coped party wall featuring two ashlar stacks with some early clay pots shared with No. 47 Rivers Street.

The first floor contains three plate glass horned sash windows set in ovolo moulded architraves with splayed jambs. Friezes sit above these windows, though the cornices have been removed. The windows have lowered moulded stone sills resting on cut down console brackets, with wrought iron balconettes beneath. The second floor also has three plate glass horned sash windows in ovolo moulded architraves with stone sills; the centre and right windows are fitted with simple window guards.

At ground floor level, the right side has two plate glass horned sashes in plain reveals with stone jambs and sills. The left side features a six-panel door with flush beaded, fielded and glazed panels and nineteenth-century door furniture. This door is set in a pedimented Doric doorcase on a single Pennant step, with two further steps leading to a Pennant paved crossover.

The basement contains two six-over-six sash windows in plain reveals with a continuous stone sill, a half-glazed door beneath the crossover, and twentieth-century area steps. A single double dormer with two-over-two horned sashes projects from the attic storey.

A band course runs above the ground floor, with a modillion cornice and coped parapet completing the front elevation. The partially visible rear elevation features a shallow rendered segmented bay of full height, probably a later addition, with two-over-two sashes to the second floor and two-over-two sashes to the double dormer. An extension rises from the staircase up to the second half-landing.

The interior was not inspected.

Attached wrought iron railings and gate with shaped heads sit on limestone bases.

Rivers Street was developed by John Wood the Younger on three parcels of land acquired at different times. Nos. 1-11, constructed with Catharine Place, were built on ground conveyed on perpetual leasehold from Sir Benet Garrard to Wood and Brock as his trustee on 19-20 December 1766. Nos. 16-28 and 36-47 Rivers Street, with areas behind Nos. 46 and 47, were on ground conveyed from the Rivers Estate (owned by Sir Peter Rivers Gay) to Wood on 5 March 1768 for 99 years. Nos. 28-35 Rivers Street, built with Russell Street, were on ground purchased by John Wood and Andrew Sproule as his trustee from Thomas and Daniel Omer on 30 December 1768 on perpetual freehold rents. The strip containing Nos. 12-15 and 48-50 Rivers Street was probably never acquired by Wood. Nos. 12-15 were conveyed from the Rivers Estate to Thomas and James Beale on 30 December 1774 and 16 October 1776 on perpetual freehold rents. Various Bath builders were responsible for implementing Wood's overall design.