No. 39 Bailbrook House

Bailbrook House, No. 39

Mansion house built 1790-1802, designed by John Eveleigh for Dr Denham Skeet, Doctor of Laws in London. The building now serves as Bailbrook College. It is constructed of limestone ashlar with slate roofs.

The house consists of two main blocks connected by a single-storey, set-back, top-lit entrance block. The left-hand block is U-shaped with a long lateral rear service wing; the right-hand block is virtually square. The design rises to two storeys with a lower ground floor and basements to the rear.

The principal front elevation is symmetrical with ten bays (five to each block), each displaying a grand order of Ionic pilasters on moulded plinths flanking the inner ranges. The two outer ranges have full-height semi-elliptical recesses over windows, some glazed with crown glass. Double moulded stringcourses between floors follow these recesses and are interrupted by pilasters. A coped parapet, modillion cornice, stepped frieze and plinth encircle each block.

The left-hand block features bellied balconettes to sixteen/eight-pane first-floor sash windows and a six/six-pane ground-floor sash window. The right-hand block has two/four-pane sash windows. Returns facing the entrance contain blind windows. Stone balustrades with urns flank steps leading to a platform fronting the entrance block.

The entrance block itself is crowned with a domed lantern and blind balustrade over an entablature with dentil cornice. This sits on engaged Ionic columns (quarter columns to the angles) with dado and plinths. The central double panelled doors have a moulded architrave and pediment on consoles, with eared archivolts and keystones to semicircular-arched 20th-century windows to either side, positioned below garlands between the capitals.

The south-facing return comprises a symmetrical eight-window range with mouldings matching the front, flanked by a giant order of Ionic columns. Two central ranges step slightly forward with quarter pilasters to angles; outer ranges have second-floor sill strings with windows displaying a variety of glazing bar patterns.

The sloping site is accommodated by a chamfered rusticated arcade of semicircular arches to the lower ground floor beneath the outer windows, with one wider stepped-forward arch at the centre. Above the piers are plinths supporting urns.

The rear of the right-hand block is three storeys with windows of varying designs, some blind. The projecting rear of the entrance block is two storeys, with a symmetrical three-window range featuring Tuscan pilasters to quoins and bellied balconettes to the outer first-floor twelve/eight-pane sash windows; the central window is blind and ground-floor windows are six/six-pane. The rear of the left-hand block is two storeys with a lower service wing extending north. A 20th-century conservatory has been added to the ground floor of the left-hand block and part of the service wing. The service wing has six/six-pane and twelve/twelve-pane sash windows to its east end, north return and front. The parapet of the left return of the left-hand block sweeps down to a lower rear with lower triangular projections and no windows.

Interior features are distinguished by remarkable craftsmanship. The entrance hall is dominated by a spectacular oval lantern with balconies to front and rear, supported by fluted cabled Ionic columns in antis. A semi-elliptical cobweb fanlight lights the double three-panel doors with fluted pilasters and wide eight-pane margin lights. The floor comprises diagonal Bath stone slabs with slate corner insets. A hall to the right displays a diagonal black and white marble floor and curved architraves and doors set within a curved wall. A cantilevered stone stair features ornamental cast iron panels between balusters. Throughout, the house displays elaborate cornices and decorative treatments. Fine chimneypieces include a marble example in the library, adorned with globes and emblems of study. The interior has been recorded by the Bath Preservation Trust.

John Eveleigh designed this house—one of the finest of its period—at a cost of £12,450. Construction began in 1791. The project, together with the building of the Grosvenor Hotel, contributed significantly to Eveleigh's financial collapse in 1794. Work continued and the house was eventually sold to Valentine Jones for £7,035 in 1802.