15-20, CHEAP STREET

Shops with accommodation over were built between 1790 and 1800, with later alterations in the 19th and 20th centuries. Designed by Thomas Baldwin for the Improvement Commissioners following the Bath Improvement Act of 1789, the buildings were likely carried out by John Palmer. They are constructed of limestone ashlar with Welsh slate roofs.

The buildings have a single-depth plan for numbers 15 to 18, which back onto numbers 11 to 14 in Abbey Church Yard. Numbers 19 and 20 have a double-depth plan and include an archway leading to Pump Room Passage with a further five windows to the right. The buildings are three storeys and attics, with three windows to each house, except for numbers 19 and 20, which have three bays over the archway.

The ground floor originally featured shopfronts, and some Doric columns, originally between the shops, remain framing numbers 17 and 18, as well as the archway and the right-hand end of number 20. Current shopfronts were introduced in 1976 for number 15 (National Trust), the early 20th century for number 16, the early 20th century within late 18th-century columns and entablature for numbers 17 and 18, and the mid-19th century for numbers 19 and 20. The ground floor features a double-fronted shop with an arched doorway flanked by four-light windows with narrow timber mullions and arched heads. The upper floors have sash windows; numbers 15 to 17 have six/six pane windows of the late 18th century style, while numbers 18 to 20 have late 19th-century plain plate glass sashes to the first floor, with six/six panes above. Number 19 has a window above the archway, flanked by blind recesses. A glass fascia with gilded lettering, formerly displaying “TITLEY, SON & PRICE,” covers the storefront. A sill band runs along the second floor, topped by a cornice and a parapet. A mansard roof is present, with each house having two flat-topped dormers, except for numbers 19 and 20, which have one single and three paired dormers, all with six/six sashes.

The shops have been stripped of original interior features; the remainder of the interior was not inspected.

Cheap Street, an important shopping street, was redeveloped around 1790 when the street was widened, including shopfronts along its entire length. While the shopfronts have been replaced, some semi-engaged columns remain on the party lines, along with the archway to Abbey Church Yard. A 1933 photograph shows the former fascia sign and demonstrates that some mullions were previously missing, and have since been replaced. Number 20 was added to the list on 11th August 1972.