No. 1 With Railings

QUEEN SQUARE 656-1/30/2454 No.1 with railings (Formerly Listed as: QUEEN SQUARE (East side) Nos 1A, 1-4 (consec) & 4A) 12/06/50

GV I

Large house, now offices. 1729 (first recorded in rate books in 1734). By John Wood the Elder. MATERIALS: Limestone ashlar with Welsh slate roof. PLAN: Grand symmetrical wide frontage house at top of terrace of six houses on the east side of Queen Square. Double depth plan with central entrance. EXTERIOR: Three storeys with attic and basement, five windows, all restored six/six sashes. Ground floor has eight-panel door with moulded architrave surround and pediment over. First floor has windows with sills now raised to their original level, splayed surrounds, cornice heads. Second floor windows have eared architraves. Drip course above basement, platband above ground floor and first floor sill band. Very shallow blocking course and parapet, continued from adjoining No.1A. Mansard roof with three flat topped dormers with six/six sashes. Each end has coped party division with shared ashlar stack. Four six/six sashes to basement. Rear elevation not seen. INTERIOR: Partial inspections on 20th November 1980, 6th May 1991 & 15th August 1991: Basement: Centre front: cornice: six panel raised and fielded ovolo front door: Fireplace blocked. South front (former kitchen): two windows with shutters: former fireplaces boarded up. Back extension: original cyma-moulded stone architrave fireplace. East end room: First Floor: Lobby to rear wing: ovolo timber panelling with deep timber cornice and panelled dado with cavetto and torus skirting. In use as offices. Basement areas are enclosed by simple cast iron railings on stone curbs, returned to doorway over area bridge. HISTORY: Houses on east side of Queen Square were the earliest built of the John Wood development. John Wood leased the site from Robert Gay from 1728 onwards, and granted underleases in 1729-1731 to a range of developers, and the houses are first recorded as occupied in the rate books in 1734. Wood originally intended to level the sloping site, but this was abandoned on the grounds of cost. Queen Square is of exceptional importance as the first large-scale instance of town planning to arrive at Bath. Wood drew on precedents in contemporary London house-building and, through the courageous and skilful pursuit of his vision, created a monumental ensemble on a fresh sloping site some distance to the west of the former city walls. Each side of the square forms a symmetrical composition, but none of the sides are alike. Queen Square forms the earliest, and lowest, element in the sequence of set-pieces by the Woods which culminates with the Royal Crescent.

Listing NGR: ST7484265021