Description

DUKE STREET

Nos.3, 4 AND 5 and attached
railings (Formerly Listed as:
DUKE STREET Nos 1 & 2 (Georgian
House). Nos. 3, 4 & 5 (Part of
Southborne Hotel))
12/06/50

GV I

Houses, now flats. 1745-1748. By John Wood the Elder.
MATERIALS: Limestone ashlar painted on ground floor, with welsh slate roofs.
STYLE: Palladian.
PLAN: Double depth plan with rear projections. Central portion of balanced twenty five-bay terrace with Nos. 1 and 2 to left and No. 1 Southborne Mansions to right (qv). Section has eleven-bays, five:three:three, of which five (No. 3) has central projection with crowning pediment.
EXTERIOR: Three storeys with attics and basements. Platband at first floor level, sill band survives only to No. 3. Wrought iron area railings. Doorways with pediments on consoles to No. 3 and central door (No. 3) has Ionic columns and pediment fronting rusticated surround with dropped keystone, eight-panel doors with rectangular overlights. All windows are late C19 plate glass sashes, plain except for first and second floors (and basement) of No. 4, which are six/six. First floor windows have cornice heads, dropped sills to Nos. 4 and 5. Modillion cornice, parapet, mansard roof, flat-topped dormers, two to each house, some double, ashlar and rubble stacks without pots. Rear elevation has apsidal stair towers and late C19 projecting turrets, all windows late C19 plain plate glass sashes.
INTERIORS: Not inspected, but that of No.3 reported as particularly fine with good staircase with apsidal landings and interior hall on ground floor with walls panelled in stone. No. 3 partially inspected by Bath Council 1971 and has very fine painted stone fireplace and the stairs to the first floor have turned bulbous balusters. Lower floor has very fine painted fireplace. No. 5 inspected by Bath Council 1975, panelled rear room with fine painted stone original fireplace with carved mouldings. No. 9 inspected by Bath Council 1981. Original staircase with Doric newel and colonnettes, Panelling remains is some rooms. Nos. 3 and 4: inspected 16th December 1971. Basement: Staircase to ground floor: wide veneered handrail: closed string: bulbous turned balusters. Front rooms: void. Lower ground floor 2: no cornice: four-panel doors: very fine painted stone fireplace. Lower ground floor 4: very find painted stone fireplace as above, but more ornamented. Lower ground floor 5: small plain stone fireplace. First Floor: all fireplaces have been removed. No. 3: now linked to No. 4. All fireplaces removed from both houses. Ground Floor: Entrance hall: dentil cornice: coffered arch with Tuscan pilasters. Staircase: open string, three banisters per tread: panelled dado. North room: ten/two: cornice as first floor: marble fireplace. Front room No. 8: cornice as above. Back room No. 2: cornice as first floor. Back room No. 4; cornice as above. First Floor: Front room: fine ceiling rose. No. 4: now linked to No. 3. Ground Floor: Entrance hall: timber cornice and wall panelling, including arch. Two rooms: cornice and panelling as hall. First Floor: plain cornices. No. 5 Duke Street and No. 9 South Parade: inspected 14th February 1975: the two houses have been linked. Ground Floor: Front room: plain cornice: panelled walls and dado: recesses either side of fireplace with two shaped shelves in each: later fireplace with coved wood surround, pulvinated frieze and cornice shelf. Back room: plain cornice: panelled with dado: cast iron fireplace with Ionic pilasters and decorative frieze. Kitchen: two windows to Duke Street. Dining Room: four windows: pair of French doors to street. First Floor: Front room (subdivided): part of original modillion cornice: panelled on three walls: two windows: painted marble fireplace, plain with grooved pilasters, not original. Front one-bay room: modillion cornice on two walls and in adjoining passage. Back room: plain cornice: panelled: two windows: fine original painted stone fireplace with carved outer and inner mouldings: Middle room (part in South Parade): dentil cornice: panelled except for back and front side walls: two windows: plain fireplace: Corner room: heavy cornice with leaf moulding on soffit: central rose with four plain and four acanthus leaves: three windows to South Parade and two to Duke Street: white marble fireplace with ribbed pilasters with flowers on their capitals. East room: cornice similar to corner room¿s to three walls: plain white and grey marble fireplace. Small back room: ornate dentilled cornice: cast iron angle fireplace. Open staircase to No. 9, South Parade: wide handrail with three banisters per tread, quarter landings, wide ramped handrail: no stairs to ground floor. Staircase to No. 5 Duke Street similar with bows at half landings. Second Floor, No. 5, Duke Street: Front room: cornice and panelling as back room. Back room north: plain cornice: panelled with dado: two windows: plain painted stone fireplace with elaborate classically detailed shelf. Small room: cornice and panelling as above: one window: small plain painted stone fireplace with reeded edge to shelf. Second Floor, No. 9, South Parade: Room 11 (South Parade House): partitioned at back to form corridor: cornice as last room: dado: plain painted stone fireplace. Corner Room: coved cornice: outer walls panelled, dado on two walls only: painted stone fireplace. Small room: cornice as back room in Duke Street: panelled dado. Room over small back room on first floor: one window: plain corner fireplace: moulded cornice. A part of the John Wood uncompleted scheme for the Abbey Orchard, 1740-1748.
SOURCES: (Ison W: The Georgian Buildings of Bath: London: 1948: 145; Orbach J: Card Index of Bath Architects and Streets: 1975; Colvin H: A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1660-1840: London: 1978: 910; The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: North Somerset and Bristol: London: 1958: 124; Mowl T and Earnshaw B: John Wood Architect of Obsession: Bath: 1988: 135-147).

Listing NGR: ST7533564652

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17526190

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)