1-20, BELMONT

Twenty terrace houses stepped steeply uphill from Number 1 on the right, arranged singly and in pairs, with views over the River Avon to the rear. Built between 1768 and 1773.

The terrace is constructed of limestone ashlar with double-pitched slate mansard roofs, hipped to the right, featuring dormers and moulded stacks on the party walls. Each house has a double-depth plan with staircases positioned at the front.

General Character

The terrace consists of three storeys with attics and basements. Each house has a three-window front of varying widths. Standard features include coped parapets, stopped modillion cornices and friezes, first floor sill bands, ground floor platbands and plinths, and moulded architraves to upper floor windows. The first floor architraves have pediments to the centres and cornices to the sides, with lowered sills. Entrances feature engaged Tuscan columns, entablatures and pediments over plain openings leading to six-panel doors positioned to the left of each house. Basements have six-over-six pane sash windows.

Number 1

Number 1, at the right end, has mostly six-over-six pane sash windows, with those on the lower floors having painted splayed jambs and those on the ground floor fitted with horns. The first floor sill course is retained between six-over-nine pane sashes with lowered sills. The word "BELMONT" is carved into the right end of the platband, with a lead rainwater downpipe to the left.

The entrance is located in the five-window right return elevation facing Hay Hill, possibly designed by Thomas Baldwin. An almost full-width single-storey projection has a serpentine front with a cornice, plain frieze and banded rusticated plinth. The centre features a semicircular arch over steps leading to recessed three-panel double doors with a large cobweb fanlight. On each side are coved niches beneath panels decorated with wheat-ear festoons and drops, flanked by narrow paired pilasters with consoles below the frieze. The returns have blind windows.

At first floor level, a horizontally planked timber segmental bowed flat-roofed projection extends under the three central bays. This has three windows to the front and one to each return, all with forward frames and Gothic glazing to the tops. The outer bays of the main block have blind windows, with three six-over-six pane sashes above the centre.

A single-storey wing to the right, stepped down Hay Hill, has a coped parapet and dentil cornice. Banded pilasters support a cornice over a 19th-century half-glazed four-panel door to the left and a semicircular arched recess to the right. This recess contains a segmental arched three-over-six pane sash window at the top and two segmental arched recesses below.

Number 2

Number 2 retains crown glass in early 19th-century margin-paned windows to the upper floors, with splayed reveals to the lower floors. It has a five-panel door with margin pane glazing to the top, plate glass sash windows to the ground floor, and a lead rainwater downpipe to the left.

Number 3

The moulded architraves to Number 3 have been removed from the second floor and the splayed reveals painted. The first floor architraves have been modified, painted and splayed. Former six-over-six pane sash windows now have plate glass to some lower sashes and to the ground floor windows. To the left, a six-panel door glazed at the top has a small rectangular window to its left.

Number 4

Number 4 has horned six-over-six pane sash windows with splayed reveals to the first and ground floors, balconettes to the first floor, and a six-panel door glazed at the top to the left.

Number 5

Number 5 has a late 19th-century attic storey with a coped parapet, stopped coved cornice, and two two-over-two pane sash windows with horizontal glazing bars and a continuous sill band. The original cornice remains over three windows similar to those of the attic. It has painted splayed reveals, plate glass sash windows and trellised balconettes to the first and ground floors, with a single window only to the ground floor, and a five-panel door glazed at the top to the left.

Number 6

Number 6 has six-over-six pane sash windows without horns and a similar 19th-century attic storey to Number 5. It features splayed reveals, balconettes to the first floor, and a five-panel door glazed at the top to the left.

Number 7

Number 7 has horned six-over-six pane sash windows, splayed reveals to the first floor, splayed jambs and trellised balconettes to the ground floor, and an unpainted six-panel door to the left with a 20th-century sunblind.

Number 8

Number 8 has six-over-six pane sash windows without horns, trellised balconettes to the first floor, splayed jambs to the ground floor, and a six-panel door with overlight to the left without a pediment to the cornice. A wrought iron grille covers a circular window to the far left.

Number 9

Number 9 has six-over-six pane sash windows without horns, balconettes on scrolled brackets to the first floor, splayed reveals to the ground floor, and a five-panel door to the right with a stained glass panel to the top. A small two-over-two pane sash is positioned to the far right, with a lead rainwater downpipe to the left.

Number 10

Number 10 has six-over-six pane sash windows without horns, six-over-nine panes and trellised balconettes to the first floor. To the right, a six-panel door glazed at the top is set in a painted doorcase, with a small circular window to the right.

Number 11

Number 11 has horned six-over-six pane sash windows to the second floor, six-over-nine pane sashes and trellised balconettes to the first floor, splayed reveals to the first and ground floors, a five-panel door glazed at the top, and a small circular window to the left.

Number 12

Number 12 has a double Roman tile roof, six-over-six pane sash windows without horns, splayed reveals and balconettes to the first floor, and a 19th-century door with a large circular panel to the centre. A small rectangular window is positioned to the right.

Number 13

Number 13 has no moulded architraves to the windows. It has horned six-over-six pane sash windows, except for crown glass in nine-over-nine pane sashes with trellised balconettes to the first floor. A 19th-century two-panel door has a small rectangular window to the left. The lower panel of the door is fielded in an eared and shouldered frame, while the upper panel has a similar frame to the glazed panel.

Number 14

Number 14 has six-over-six pane sash windows without horns, six-over-nine panes to the first floor, splayed reveals to the first and ground floors, a six-panel door glazed at the top, and a small rectangular window to the left.

Number 15

Number 15 has no moulded architraves. It has six-over-six pane sash windows with horns, nine-over-nine panes to the first floor with the original sill course remaining between them, a six-panel door glazed at the top, and a small square window to the left.

Numbers 14 and 15 form a level pair with a continuous parapet.

Numbers 16 and 17

Numbers 16 and 17 also form a level pair with a continuous 19th-century attic storey and a lead rainwater downpipe to the party wall.

Number 16 has six-over-six pane sash windows without horns, nine-over-nine panes and trellised balconettes to the first floor. It has no moulded architraves, with painted splayed reveals to the first and second floors, and a five-panel door glazed at the top to the right.

Number 17 has six-over-six pane sash windows without horns to the attic and second floor, splayed reveals to horned plate glass sash windows to the first and ground floors, and a five-panel door to the right with a margin-paned glazed panel to the top.

Numbers 18-20

Numbers 18 to 20 form a level trio with continuous bands, cornices and parapet. All windows are plate glass sashes except for the ground floor of Number 18 and the attic floor of both Numbers 18 and 19, which have two-over-two sashes.

Number 18 has an arched doorway with a six-panel door and radiating fanlight with raised architrave.

Number 19 has a standard pedimented Tuscan doorway with a six-panel door having four glazed panels. The central attic window has a blind.

Number 20 has all six-over-six restored sashes, with nine-over-nine on the first floor. The first floor windows have a continuous wrought iron balcony, and the central attic window has a blind. The front door with side lights and segmental radiating fanlight is set in a mid-19th-century solid ashlar porch with cornice and flat roof.

A single-bay one-storey extension to the left has a six-over-six sash. The return elevation is in ashlar with a further sash, cornice and castellated parapet to both faces. The return wall of the main block is in rubble, with the top floor in ashlar, demonstrating how it has been heightened. There is a single six-over-six sash on the lower floors and three on the attic floor. The roof is hipped to the end of the terrace.

Interior

The interior of Number 14 was recorded by the Bath Preservation Trust in 1992. This noted the survival of a wooden open-string staircase with turned balusters (three per tread), extensive surviving joinery and decorative plasterwork.

Historical Context

The terrace forms part of the northern expansion of Bath on a steeply sloping site that exploited fine views over the River Avon. Number 1 has been attributed in part to Thomas Baldwin. The other houses are of standard John Wood the Younger type for around 1770 and have been attributed to him, though possibly by Thomas Jelly.