Newton Park The Country House Of The College Only

Newton Park is a country house now serving as the administrative centre and music rooms of the City of Bath College of Higher Education. Built between 1762 and 1765 by architect Stiff Leadbetter for Joseph Langton, it is constructed in Bath stone ashlar with a distinctive plan consisting of a central block linked by quadrant arcades curving forward to identical service ranges on either side.

The central block rises 2 storeys over a basement with attics contained in dormers. The entrance front displays a 2:3:2 bay arrangement, with the central 3 bays projecting slightly and surmounted by a pediment containing a Diocletian window. The hipped and mansard slate roof terminates in a balustraded parapet and dentilled cornice. The glazing bar sash windows sit within moulded architraves, while ground floor windows are topped with alternating triangular and segmental pediments set on consoles. A continuous cill band runs across the ground floor. The central panelled door sits beneath a pediment on consoles.

The quadrant arcades feature tall balustraded parapets, with recessed glazed windows and central panelled doors set with imposts and dripmoulds. A cornice and wrought iron lamp brackets sit above the doors. The service wings display a 1:3:1 bay arrangement, with the central 3 bays advanced and crowned by pediments. The west wing features a clock in its tympanum while the east displays a compass. Each wing is topped with an octagonal bell turret surmounted by a ball finial and weathervane. Selected downpipes feature moulded hoppers.

The west and north elevations of the main block largely mirror the entrance front but incorporate full-height canted bays at the centre with pediments over the central windows only. A 3-bay loggia with Tuscan columns in antis was added to the rear of the east quadrant in 1906.

The interior retains most of its original fine plasterwork, though some was remodelled or redecorated in 1893. The hall displays an ox-skull and triglyph frieze with a ceiling divided into three parts—lozenges to the outer sections and a circular central motif with intertwined foliage. A ground floor room to the right features an inner section with an oval motif within an octagonal border surrounded by delicate scrollwork, a modillioned cornice, enriched door friezes, and a marble fireplace with enriched central plaque. The staircase hall contains an open well cantilever staircase with an enriched wrought iron balustrade of S-pattern, a glazed domical lantern on enriched plaster pendentives, and screens of Tuscan columns on both floors. A rear north-west room displays an enriched frieze with shells and urns, enriched door and fireplace friezes, and a ceiling featuring a central relief rose surrounded by 16 large and small Wedgwood-style plaques depicting the seasons and mythological events. The west or octagon room has a panelled octagonal ceiling with arabesques, an anthemion frieze, and a dentilled cornice with swags. The north central room features circular ceiling panels with feathers in the spandrels and arabesques, a modillioned cornice, enriched frieze, and a marble fireplace with terms, swags, and a central figure panel of a sacrifice. Most first floor rooms retain modillioned and dentilled cornices with enriched fireplaces.