68 And 70, Walcot Street

68 and 70 Walcot Street are a pair of houses that now feature two shopfronts facing the street. They date from the early to mid 18th century and have undergone some alterations in the 20th century. The buildings are made of painted coursed limestone rubble with freestone dressings and have a steeply-pitched slate roof with moulded stacks at the gable ends.

The houses are two storeys tall with attics, each having a two-window range. There are two 20th-century dormers and restored six-over-six pane sash windows with thick glazing bars. The window surrounds of No. 70, which is to the left, are splayed. The early 19th-century shopfronts feature recessed panels with narrow pilasters and fluted consoles flanking the fascias. The 20th-century shop windows have turned colonnettes at the corners and set-back half-glazed doors with overlights to the right of each shopfront. The door for No. 70 is an early 20th-century design with leaded glazing. No. 68 is wider and may have had a former open fire to the right.

The rough finish of the masonry front reflects the type of house building that John Wood criticized in his 'Description of Bath' from 1742-43. Despite the Victorian shopfronts, these houses are an interesting example of a less polished mid-18th-century townhouse. The masonry window surrounds are not raised from the wall surface, indicating that rendering was not intended.