No. 37 And Attached Railings

No. 37 and Attached Railings, Rivers Street

Terrace house, formerly end of terrace, now converted to flats. Built 1770–1775 as part of the Rivers Street development by John Wood the Younger.

The building is constructed in limestone ashlar to the front, with rubble work below the basement windows and a mixture of ashlar and rubble to the rear. The Welsh slate parapeted mansard roof is hipped to the left and has two ashlar stacks: one axial stack rising from the rear wall with early clay pots at its left end, and another ashlar and rendered stack with early clay pots to the right. There is a coped verge at the junction of roofs to the centre.

The house occupies a long, shallow wedge-shaped site that narrows towards the east. The narrower eastern block stands hard on the pavement, while the wider western part is set back behind a basement area. The staircase is positioned to the centre left.

The front elevation has three storeys, an attic and basement, arranged in an irregular four-bay composition. The first floor features, to the projecting left-hand block, four six/six-sashes arranged in pairs at the centre, each set within an ovolo moulded architrave with frieze and moulded cornice above and moulded stone sills on console brackets. The recessed right-hand block contains a Venetian window with similar sashes and fan glazing to the head of the centre window. Three further fixed panes have been added below due to a lowered sill, with a continuous wrought iron balconette. This is set within a splayed ovolo moulded architrave with frieze and moulded cornice that ramps up to form a hood over the centre window.

The second floor has three six/six-sashes to the left in ovolo moulded architraves with stone sills. The right-hand block has three window surrounds with similar architraves and continuous stone sills, though only the central opening is glazed with a six/six-sash; the flanking openings are blind.

The ground floor contains, to the left block, three six/six-sashes in plain reveals with stone sills, with the central pair coupled and sharing a continuous sill. To the right side of the projecting block is a six-panel door with flush, fielded and single glazed panel, approached by three pennant steps. The door is set within an enriched Doric doorcase with paterae to the fluted frieze. The recessed right-hand block has a Venetian window with six/six-sashes and fan glazing to the head of the centre window in splayed reveals with continuous stone sill.

The basement features, to the left, three six/six-sashes in splayed reveals with stone sills, paired to the centre left, with heads partially above ground level and gratings in the pavement. To the right, in the basement area, are two six/six-sashes in plain reveals with stone sills. A door to the centre has six unmoulded recessed panels set deep in a plain reveal with one pennant step. A similar six-panel door appears to the right side of the return of the section to the left, with twentieth-century area steps. One double dormer with six/six-sashes in a moulded architrave is present.

The exterior is further articulated by a band course over the ground floor, a modillion cornice and coped parapet. The partially visible rear elevation shows a shallow canted full-height bay to the left with six/six-sashes and a small twentieth-century window to the second floor.

Attached wrought iron railings and gate with twentieth-century shaped heads on limestone bases form subsidiary features.

Rivers Street was developed by John Wood the Younger on three parcels of land. Nos. 1–11 were constructed in conjunction with Catharine Place on ground conveyed on perpetual leasehold from Sir Benet Garrard to Wood and Brock as trustee on 19–20 December 1766. Nos. 16–28 and 36–47 Rivers Street with areas behind Nos. 46 and 47 were on ground conveyed from the Rivers Estate, owned by Sir Peter Rivers Gay, to Wood on 5 March 1768 for 99 years. Nos. 28–35 Rivers Street were constructed in conjunction with Russell Street on ground bought by John Wood and Andrew Sproule as trustee from Thomas and Daniel Omer on 30 December 1768 on perpetual freehold rents. The strip of ground on which Nos. 12–15 and 48–50 Rivers Street were constructed was probably never acquired by Wood. The sites of Nos. 12–15 were conveyed from the Rivers Estate to Thomas and James Beale on 30 December 1774 and 16 October 1776 on perpetual freehold rents. A number of different Bath builders were responsible for implementing Wood's overall design.