1-20, Walcot Parade

Twenty terrace houses on the north side of Walcot Parade, forming a slightly concave range on a raised pavement which steps downhill from No.1 to the left. Built around 1770 with twentieth-century additions.

The facades are constructed in limestone ashlar with rubblestone to the rear elevations. The roofs are double-pitched mansards, mostly slate with moulded stacks to party walls and right gable end.

The terrace follows a consistent three-storey plan with double-depth layouts. Each house displays three windows to its frontage (except No.15, which has two), with coped parapets, modillion cornices, ground floor platbands, and moulded architraves to upper floor windows with cornices to first floor windows. Doors have moulded architraves and cornices.

Individual houses display considerable variation in detail. No.1 is off-square in plan with a symmetrical three-window front featuring plate glass sash windows, moulded sills and brackets to the first floor window, and a central five-panel glazed door. Its left return has been reconstructed with a hipped roof to full height and incorporates a canted bay with six/six-pane sash windows of equal size across three floors. The rear wing roof has pantiles to the top slope and slate to the front, with a six/six-pane dormer sash window and a larger ground floor sash window in a moulded architrave. A timber bressumer runs below the ground floor platband.

No.2 features two dormers and moulded sills to the first floor. No.3 is painted to ground floor level with two dormers and a five-panel glazed door to the left. No.4 has double Roman tiles to the top roof slope, two dormers, moulded and bracketed sills to the first floor, and a six-panel glazed door under a shallow hood on shaped brackets. No.5 possesses three dormers with balconettes to plate glass sash windows and a tall overlight to a five-panel glazed door.

No.6 is painted to ground floor and stepped slightly back, with a lead downpipe to its left corner; it has two-light casement windows to dormers, six/six-pane sash windows to upper floors, and a half-glazed six-panel door. No.7 features three dormers, six/six-pane sash windows with moulded and bracketed sills, cast iron balconettes to outer windows, and a six-panel glazed door in a pedimented doorcase with engaged Tuscan columns.

No.8 has two dormers, six/six-pane sash windows with moulded and bracketed sills, and a six-panel door with three-pane overlight and cast iron knocker. No.9 exhibits three dormers, six/six-pane sash windows, bracketed sills to six/nine-pane first floor sashes, a half-glazed six-panel door with three-pane overlight, and twentieth-century balconettes to upper floors.

No.10 is wider and stepped forward with six/six-pane sash windows to the second floor and moulded and bracketed sills to six/nine-pane first floor sashes. No.11, altered in the mid-nineteenth century, has double Roman tiles to the upper roof slope, two dormers with plate glass sash windows, and a twentieth-century six-panel door with margin lights set within a wide semicircular arch and fanlight with radial glazing bars, with reeded lintel and jambs. An early nineteenth-century lamp bracket is attached to the railings to the left of the door.

No.12 is painted to ground floor with two/two-pane dormers and plate glass sash windows with splayed reveals to upper floors. Nos.13 and 14 share a continuous cornice. No.13, altered in the mid-nineteenth century with an attic storey added, has six/six-pane and six/nine-pane sash windows with bracketed sills and a six-panel door to the right. No.14 features two dormers, plate glass sash windows, and a half-glazed six-panel door with overlight.

No.15 is a two-window range painted to ground floor with two dormers and a six-panel door to the right. No.16 has a painted ground floor with six/six-pane sash windows to the second floor, horizontal glazing bars to sashes on the first floor, and a five-panel glazed door with narrow overlight; its basement area is covered over.

No.17 displays a wide symmetrical three-window range with three dormers, a restored parapet, six/six-pane sash windows with trellised balconettes to the first floor, and a central six-panel door with seven-pane overlight flanked by plate glass sash windows, accompanied by a cast iron wreath knocker. Its basement area is covered over. No.18 is stepped slightly back and painted to ground floor, with a six-panel door with three-pane overlight to the left and a lead downpipe in the left angle.

No.19 is a two-window range without moulded architraves, featuring six/six-pane sash windows to the second floor and a six-panel door to the left. No.20, at the right end, has splayed reveals to the ground floor and a six-panel door to the left.

The interior was not inspected but is noted as containing a closed-string dogleg staircase.

The terrace was originally built as St Swithin's Terrace and Butler's Buildings. Its tall frontages and elevated position exploited uninterrupted views over the river towards the undeveloped slopes of Bathwick. The clear variations in elevational treatment between individual houses suggest that architectural supervision was not strong, with detailed design matters left to individual builders. Nos.16–18 were separately listed on 11 August 1972.