Nos. 14 And 15 And Attached Railings

Two townhouses (originally part of three) at Queen Square, Bath, built around 1730 by John Wood the Elder as part of the original layout of the west side of the square, now in office use.

The buildings are constructed in limestone ashlar with slate roofs. They present a symmetrical Palladian villa composition with hipped mansard roofs. The central three bays are brought forward under a pediment, with the rear containing some additions including a deep wing to No.15. Both houses rise to three storeys with attic and basement levels. No.14 has sash windows arranged as two plus one plus two bays, all plain. No.15 has all twelve-pane sashes arranged as two plus two plus two bays.

The principal elevation features small dormers at second-floor level, with second-floor windows set in moulded architraves. First-floor windows have architraves and straight cornice hoods. The central three bays contain sashes in splayed surrounds that have been extended and break through the sill band, forming a stop to the rusticated ground floor. The centre three bays feature alternate triangular and segmental pediments on Ionic pilasters. Ground-floor openings have Gibbsian surrounds with heavy triple keystones and alternate triangular and segmental open pediments. The centre sash is set within a sunk arched panel with deep stepped voussoirs; the doorways to either side have a single panelled door to No.14 and a double panelled door to No.15. The basement contains two plus one plus two sashes. A modillion cornice with blocking course and parapet crowns the composition, with three fine urns on pedestals at the centre. Deep ashlar stacks rise between bays three and four, and to the right.

The return elevation to Chapel Row also features a projecting centre with pediment and similar detailing. It has one small dormer above blind lights at second and first floors, with a twelve-pane sash at ground floor on each side. The centre has a small plain sash flanked by blind lights at second floor, above a large sixteen-pane window. A pediment crowned by a stack rises above, with a further deep stack to the rear left. The rear elevation contains various sashes and dormers, with projecting full-height wings featuring cornices to blocking course and parapets.

No.14 contains a wooden staircase at the rear with Regency joinery and plasterwork evident at ground floor level. The basement front room has a smaller fireplace with an elaborate adjustable barred grate, presumably for cooking. The back room contains a long elliptically-vaulted cellar with two large fireplaces (altered), built to support a billiard table above. The ground-floor staircase features original cut string steps with double C-scrolled Baroque tread ends with Doric colonnettes on vase banisters, a bow to the half landing with Venetian window and semi-dome with large central plaster shell, and elaborate original key pattern ornament to the soffits of beams over half-landings. The back south room has an early 19th-century cornice and reeded architrave, original eight-raised and fielded panel doors with reeded architraves with lions' heads on corner blocks, and one window with original panelled shutters. The first floor front room (now subdivided) retains original shutters and good-quality Regency detailing, though with a nondescript modern fireplace. The back south room has an original eight-panel door to the staircase landing, one window with raised and fielded panel shutters and reeded Regency architraves, and an early Victorian marble fireplace. The back south extension has a reeded cornice, an original window with shutters folded parallel to the wall, and a plain Regency fireplace with reeded architrave with corner blocks with leaf motifs. The second floor back south room contains a Regency cornice, an original six-raised and fielded panel door with wide cyma-moulded architrave, and a late 18th-century fireplace with leaf decoration. An original attic staircase survives at the third-floor level.

No.15 contains one of the finest staircase compartments of 18th-century Bath. The plasterwork, executed by the Francini Brothers, features panels depicting the flaying of Marsyas and St Cecilia, set within elaborately moulded frames beneath a richly modelled putti and acanthus leaf frieze. The elaborate staircase, originally located in the left front room, was sold to America around 1930 but has been reinstated in replica by joiner Donal Channer around 1985. It comprises an open-string wooden staircase with turned balusters and Corinthian columnar newels. The original magnificent oak and mahogany inlaid main staircase was incorporated into Norcott Hill House, Berkhamstead in the 1920s, but an accurate copy was made for Bath City Council by Donal Channer in the 1980s and restored to the house. The staircase climbs only to the first floor, featuring carved Baroque tread ends with volutes, fluted Corinthian newels with three banisters to a step, Doric colonnettes (alternately vertically and spirally fluted) on vases, and a heavy moulded ramped handrail ending in a large spiral curve at ground floor level.

The front basement areas are enclosed by cast iron railings on a stone curb, returned at each doorway and at the ends.

These houses correspond with Nos.18A and 19 Queen Square, both pairs forming the fronts of projecting wings which flanked a recessed mansion at the centre of the composition, set back behind a courtyard. This recessed section was demolished in 1830 when the present Institution was constructed. The elevations facing into the courtyard were destroyed, resulting in changes to the entrance arrangements.

No.14 was first listed on 14th July 1955. John Wood is thought to have occupied No.15 at some point, though recent scholarship suggests No.9 was his residence. Wood leased the site from Robert Gay from 1728 onwards and granted underleases in 1729-1731 to various developers. The houses are first recorded as occupied in the rate books in 1734. Wood originally intended to level the sloping site but abandoned this on grounds of cost. Queen Square represents exceptional importance as the first large-scale instance of town planning to arrive at Bath. Drawing on contemporary London precedents, Wood created a monumental ensemble on a fresh sloping site some distance west of the former city walls. Each side of the square forms a symmetrical composition, though no two sides are identical. Queen Square is the earliest and lowest element in the sequence of set-pieces by the Woods, culminating in the Royal Crescent.