15, 16 and 17, Trim Street

Three houses, numbers 15, 16, and 17 Trim Street, were built in 1724 and restored in 1897, with 20th-century alterations following wartime damage. Thomas Greenway is suggested as the architect. The buildings are constructed of limestone ashlar with a double Roman tile roof. They form a fine terrace, set back from properties at each end, and the facade was restored in conjunction with the restructuring of the interior. A previous listing referred to wide openings for vehicle access at ground floor level.

The three-storey houses, including an attic and basement, have eleven windows on each floor; these are twelve-pane sash windows set within moulded architraves with keystones rising at each floor to a moulded full-width cornice. A high 20th-century mansard roof has eleven dormers, also with twelve-pane sash windows. The basement, with painted rubble walls, has six plain sashes and two doors. A tall six-panel door is set within an architrave with a key stone, and a similar door is in deep reveals on a wide landing with three steps, featuring an architrave and a fine shell hood supported by shaped brackets to pilasters. The top cornice incorporates a blocking course and parapet, with a slight step-up between bays three and four. The end walls are coped and there are no chimney stacks. Three lead downpipes are present, with the central one on a broad pilaster. Above the ground-floor bay seven are inscribed the dates 1724 and 1897.

The interior has been totally reconstructed, though there has been no recent inspection. The basement area is enclosed by simple railings on an ashlar curb, returned at the ends to doorways. The buildings are part of the formal development of the south side of Trim Street, representing the second phase of the street’s growth, following an initial phase in 1707 on land owned by George Trim. They are considered a good example of town houses from the pre-Wood phase of Bath building, and the street retains its flagged pavements and sett roadway, although the stone pavements and roadway at its east end have been lost.