Numbers 1 To 18 And Attached Area Railings

Numbers 1 to 18 Royal Crescent and Attached Area Railings

A terrace of 18 houses, built circa 1806–10 by C Harcourt Masters of Bath, now in mixed use as offices, surgeries, a club, and flats. The buildings were developed for Joseph Pitt and feature stucco over brick construction. The railings and balconies were supplied by John Bradley of Worcester. A later single-storey extension was added to the left.

Exterior

The terrace forms a symmetrical, concave composition of three storeys with basements. Each house has three first-floor windows; there is a three-window return to the left and a four-window return to the right. The houses are constructed on a double-depth plan with service ranges of mainly three storeys to the rear and side staircase halls.

The stucco detailing includes rustication to the ground floors (except to Numbers 2 and 3), first- and second-floor bands, and a crowning cornice. Windows are mostly original 6/6 sashes, taller on the first floor, with some 2/2 horizontal-pane sashes in plain reveals and sills. Basement windows are 3/6 sashes where original. Entrances are arranged nine to the right and nine to the left, with roll-edged steps leading to six-fielded-panel doors with fanlights. Some fanlights feature batwing and circle glazing bars, all set in round-arched plain reveals. Tooled architraves surround the first-floor windows of Numbers 4 and 12.

The rear elevation displays 6/6 and 8/8 sashes, with some tripartite windows containing 6/6 panes between 2/2 sashes. The right return has four first-floor windows with ground-floor rustication and first- and second-floor bands; the ground floor has 2/2 horizontal-pane sashes with lugs, while the upper floors have 6/6 sashes. The left return features three first-floor windows and a single-storey outshut with 6/6 and 2/2 sashes.

The roof is slate with a double pitch; brick and stucco party-wall stacks serve as chimneys.

Interior

Original plasterwork and joinery remain in many interiors. Number 12 retains most of its original interior details, including a dogleg staircase with stick balusters and wreathed handrail, fireplaces with acanthus motif cornices, reeded doorcases with corner rosettes, and marble fireplaces to the first floor carved with Classical scenes. Number 1 features an embellished cornice to the hall with a ceiling frieze and lion masks, and a narrow open-well staircase with stick balusters. Number 11 has inner double doors with wide batwing and circle glazing bars. Panelled shutters remain to many windows throughout the terrace.

Subsidiary Features

Numbers 1–9 and 11–14 have long balconies (verandahs to Numbers 1 and 6) with stick and oval panel design, bordered by half-circle and lozenge motifs—the same design used on the second Assembly Rooms and similar to those at Numbers 54–60 Winchcombe Street. The verandahs have uprights with similar motifs and openwork friezes. Numbers 15–18 have lattice motifs; the verandah to Number 16 has similar motifs to the uprights and a lattice frieze. The right return has individual balconies to the first- and second-floor windows with similar rods. One first-floor window to the left return has an individual balcony with lattice motif. Wrought- and iron balconies and railings throughout feature spearhead area railings; those to Numbers 9 and 10 incorporate brackets for oil lamps. Numbers 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, and 18 have scrolled boot scrapers.

Historical Context

The terrace was built as fashionable lodgings for visitors to the Spa. The Duke of Gloucester lived at Number 18 and received Princess Victoria there in 1830. Number 11 was the home of Dr Henry Charles Boisragan, Physician Extraordinary to the King, whose fashionable patients included Lord Byron in 1812. The Crescent originally overlooked Crescent Gardens, which were interrupted in 1826 by the erection of the Promenade. Contemporary critic Little considered the interiors "the best ... in the town." It is regarded as "the earliest important terrace in Cheltenham."