Valentine Villa

Valentine Villa is a detached house located on Newbridge Hill, dating from the late 18th century, with refurbishments and extensions made around 1868. It first appeared in the Bath Directory as a gentleman's residence.

The house is constructed from coursed squared white limestone with Bath stone dressings and features a single Roman tile roof. It has a single depth plan with a rear outshut and a kitchen wing, facing south with its back towards the road.

The south elevation, which overlooks the garden, has two storeys and is three windows wide, with an additional single-storey kitchen wing to the right. The ground floor features three-pane French windows with louvered shutters flanking a central four-over-four sash window, which was likely the original front door before Victorian alterations. There is a full-width glazed veranda supported by slight iron uprights. Above, there are three plain sash windows. The roof has stone verges and an ashlar stack with weathering at both ends of the ridge. The single-storey kitchen extension to the right has a lean-to roof, a door, paired plain sash windows, and a tall kitchen stack. The rear elevation, facing the road, has a continuous outshut beneath a catslide roof and was altered and heightened around 1868 when the house was upgraded. It features a single storey with an upper floor corridor at the top of the stairs providing access to the upper rooms of the main block. The central six-panel door has a dressed surround and is flanked by paired Gothic windows with Caernarfon heads and a stone mullion. There is also a roof light above the stair head.

Inside, the decor has been significantly altered, but the kitchen still retains a cast iron range in a Tudor arched fireplace.

Valentine Villa is an interesting example of a farmhouse that was transformed into a minor gentleman's residence as Bath expanded into the countryside in the mid-19th century.