401 and 402 The Spa

A pair of attached houses dating from the early 19th century. They are constructed of ashlar to the front and sides, with rendered rubblestone to the rear, and have a Welsh slate hipped roof with central ashlar and brick stacks. The houses are four storeys high and have four windows each. The entrance to the left of No. 401 is up concrete steps to the first floor, and the entrance to No. 402 is at ground floor level. No. 401 has a 20th-century door within a semicircular arched opening with a fanlight, set within a two-storey porch with a hipped roof. No. 402 has a first-floor balcony to a three-storey wing, likely the original entrance, featuring a fanlight above French windows. The basement has two 8-pane sashes and French windows. The first floor is rusticated and contains four 8-pane sashes in semicircular panels with castellated aprons. A plat band with a key pattern marks the second floor, which in turn has four tall 8-pane sashes, each with wrought iron balconies. The third floor has four smaller 8-pane sashes, and the windows of the second and third floors are separated by grooved pilasters that extend to the cornice, with a panelled frieze below. A pediment sits above the cornice with a blocking course on either side. The left return of No. 401 has blind windows to the second and third floors and semicircular blind arches to the rusticated porch first floor. No. 402 has a two-storey, two-window wing to the right, with a rusticated first floor. The rear elevation is rendered and features four sashes and semicircular-headed stair windows on the sides. The interior has not been inspected. These houses were built as part of a spa development in Melksham around 1815.