Part Of Museum

No 40 is a late 18th century house that is now part of the Museum. It has two storeys and an attic, constructed of red brick on a shallow stone plinth. There is a stone band between the storeys and a moulded stone cornice. The building features a brick parapet with stone coping and a slightly projecting central bay. The mansard slate roof includes three flat-roofed dormers.

On the first floor, there are three recessed sash windows without glazing bars, with block sills and flat brick arches that have doubled keystones. The central doorway is made of stone and is framed by semi-engaged Doric columns, an entablature, and a pediment; however, the door has been replaced by a window. To the left, there is a two-storey extension with a stone-coped parapet, which has a blind window on the first floor and double doors on the ground floor that originally served as a stable entrance.

To the right, connecting No 40 with No 41, is the Museum entrance built in 1872 in a florid Gothic style. This section is two storeys high and made of Bath stone coursed rubble, featuring a plinth with moulded capping, a parapet with moulded coping decorated with roundels containing quatrefoils, and a moulded cornice. The first floor has a four-light oriel bay with a stone hipped roof, pointed lights with cusping, and drip moulds above. The door is set in a pointed moulded arch and is double with elaborate hinges. The doorway is flanked by pointed windows with drip moulds, and a moulded sill course extends over the doorhead as a drip mould.

No 40 was once a school attended by Sir Thomas Lawrence, a notable painter. Nos 31 to 42 form a group.