1-11, Cavendish Crescent

Cavendish Crescent, Numbers 1–11

A crescent of eleven terrace houses built between 1815 and 1830, designed by John Pinch the Elder for builder William Broom. The building retains its original Georgian character despite 19th and 20th century alterations.

The houses are constructed in limestone ashlar with double pitched slate mansard roofs hipped at the ends and moulded chimney stacks set to the party walls and left return. Each property follows a double-depth plan and comprises four storeys including an attic storey, with basements. The terrace displays a characteristic three-window range per house.

The exterior features a returned coped parapet with a slightly returned attic cornice and a fully returned cornice at second floor level. The ground floor has a slightly returned platband. Windows are three/three-pane sashes to the attic, six/nine-pane sashes in raised surrounds to the first floor with sills at platband level and trellised balconettes—those to the centre of each house topped with a cornice on consoles. The second and ground floors, along with basements, have six/six-pane sashes in plain openings. Doors are eight-panel with inverted corners to the upper panel and reeded lower panels with lintels. Numbers 2–11 feature rusticated surrounds to semicircular arches with simple cobweb fanlights above the doors. Numbers 1–10 have doors positioned to the left.

All basements retain their original six/six-pane sash windows. Number 1, on the left, has a flat arch over a three-pane overlight above double four-panel doors. The left return in Cavendish Road features small late 19th century windows; the rear wing has a 20th century glazed first floor above a pedimented Tuscan doorcase flanked by a pair of scrolled lampholders.

Number 2 retains horned plate glass sash windows and a plain fanlight. Number 3 remains largely unaltered except for a swept canopy over the door. The stairs contain murals by the mid-20th century church murallist Hans Feibusch, recorded in 1979 sale particulars. Number 4 is unaltered except for a swept canopy over the door and plate glass windows to the attic. Number 5 is unaltered except for a swept canopy over the door and a dog gate. Number 6 has horned plate glass windows to the main floors. Number 7 has plate glass sash windows to the attic. Number 8 remains unaltered. Number 9, also unaltered, features a Regency cast iron balcony to the first floor and contains painted oak panelling displayed at the 1900 Paris Exposition as part of the 'Prince of Wales' rooms, recorded in 1984 sale particulars. Number 10 is unaltered except for a canopy and retains a stone staircase with inlaid mahogany handrail, vaulted ceilings to passages, surviving ceiling plasterwork, fireplaces, and a hanging water closet at the rear. Number 11, the right terminal, has plate glass windows to the main floors and a single storey double-depth porch to the right return with returned coped parapet and cornice; a late 19th century wing extends to the rear.

The interiors contain varied surviving features. Number 2, inspected by Bath Council in 1973, retains ground floor mouldings in most rooms, a marble fireplace with Victorian firehood in the front room, and fine cornices on the first floor. The second floor has a timber fireplace with an oval mirror, subsequently blocked in with a 20th century gas fire. Number 3, inspected by Bath Council in 1985, has a fine fanlight over the front door, an inner six-panel door with four top panels glazed with ornate leading and ribbed surrounds, an original white marble fireplace with grey inserts and pilasters, double three-panel connecting doors, and an original stone staircase with two balusters per tread. Number 4, inspected by Bath Council in 1978, retains most of its original marble fireplaces, a fine fanlight over the front door, and very fine ceiling plaster detail with raised rosettes and egg and cup edging. Oak and walnut mantlepieces with red tiles, dating from circa 1914, occupy the ground floor front rooms; one rear room has an original marble fireplace with a black shelf, and another features grey and white marble. Number 6, recorded by Bath Council in 1972 and the Bath Preservation Trust in 1998, displays fine detailing throughout: a highly decorated fireplace in the ground floor front room, a vaulted ceiling on the stairs and half landing, an elaborate ceiling rose with acanthus leaves in the first floor drawing room with ornate cornice and frieze detailing, and a library with a wooden fireplace mantle featuring a central Medusa head. Number 8, partially inspected by Bath Council in 1988, has an original fireplace in the second floor front room with fine cornicing, a glazed square fanlight in the hall, and a fine fireplace in the main room. Number 9, recorded by the Bath Preservation Trust in the 1990s, contains a fine stone cantilevered staircase, dining room panelling, and an ornate carved fireplace brought from the Paris Exhibition; the first floor drawing room has an original fireplace with Art Nouveau tiles, and the study features kitchen cupboards and bookcases built from pews from St Mark's, Widcombe, installed circa 1970. Number 10, recorded by the Bath Preservation Trust in the 1990s, retains original mouldings throughout, an ornate decorated arch in the inner hallway with tulip and tongue detail, a fine cantilevered stone staircase, and a white stone painted fireplace in the dining room.

William Broom, the builder and resident of Number 3 from 1815, declared bankruptcy in 1825 when the crescent remained unfinished. Numbers 10 and 11 were offered for sale in an uncompleted state in 1829. This crescent, which Pinch's only design in this form, takes full advantage of the south-westerly prospect of the site and represents one of the last set-piece Georgian terraces to be completed in Bath.