:Buildings and architecture of Bath

File:Roman Baths in Bath Spa, England - July 2006.jpg. The entire structure above the level of the pillar bases is a later construction.]]

Buildings from Bath's pre-Norman period either no longer exist, or their remains are below street level.{{cite web|url=http://www.romanbaths.co.uk/walkthrough.aspx |title=Walkthrough |publisher=romanbaths.co.uk |access-date=2009-11-11 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100209080716/http://www.romanbaths.co.uk/walkthrough.aspx |archive-date= 9 February 2010 }} Archaeological sites in the central area of the city have supplied some details about how they may have looked, while the lower areas of the Roman Baths reveal significant remains from the Roman period.

The Baths were built around hot springs, the only ones naturally occurring in the United Kingdom.{{cite web|url=http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/worldheritage/2.3Des.htm |title=City of Bath World Heritage Site Management Plan |access-date=2007-11-01 |publisher=Bath and North East Somerset Council |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070614100836/http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/worldheritage/2.3Des.htm |archive-date=14 June 2007 |url-status=dead |df=dmy }} Archaeological evidence suggests that the main spring in its natural state was treated as a shrine by the Celts. During the early Roman occupation of Britain, in the 60s or 70s AD, engineers drove oak piles into the mud to provide a stable foundation and surrounded the spring with an irregular stone chamber lined with lead. These still survive. At this early stage the spring was an open pool in the corner of the temple precinct. It fed a bathing complex on its south side within a barrel-vaulted building. The complex was gradually built up over the next 300 years.Barry Cunliffe, City of Bath (1986), pp. 21–24. All the stonework above the level of the baths is from more recent periods including the 12th century, when John of Tours built a curative bath over the King's Spring reservoir, and the 16th century, when the city corporation built a new bath (Queen's Bath) to the south of the spring. The spring is now housed in 18th-century buildings designed by architects John Wood, the Elder and John Wood, the Younger;{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442113 |title=King's Bath |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-01-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017221818/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442113 |archive-date=17 October 2012 }} visitor access is via an 1897 concert hall by J M Brydon, which is an eastward continuation of the Grand Pump Room with a glass-domed centre and single-storey radiused corner.{{cite web|title=Concert Hall |work=Images of England |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442115 |access-date=2007-10-30 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090205191014/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442115 |archive-date= 5 February 2009 }}

File:Minerva from Bath.jpg" found in the ruins of the Roman baths]]

Beside the baths, a temple, in classical style with four large, fluted Corinthian columns and dedicated to Minerva{{cite book|last=Cunliffe|first=Barry|title=Roman Bath discovered|publisher=The History Press Ltd|year=2000|edition=3rd|pages=15–17|isbn=978-0-7524-1902-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tGEWAAAAYAAJ&q=the%20Roman%20temple%20at%20Bath&pg=PA12|access-date=9 November 2020|archive-date=2 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230702100138/https://books.google.com/books?id=tGEWAAAAYAAJ&q=the%20Roman%20temple%20at%20Bath&pg=PA12|url-status=live}} The temple remained in use for worship until around the 4th century,{{cite web|url=http://www.romanbaths.co.uk/walkthrough/the_roman_site/the_roman_temple.aspx |title=The Roman Temple |publisher=The Roman Baths |access-date=2009-10-23 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090712115142/http://www.romanbaths.co.uk/walkthrough/the_roman_site/the_roman_temple.aspx |archive-date=12 July 2009 }} but the site is now occupied by the Grand Pump Room.

The city was given defensive walls, probably in the 3rd century,{{cite web|url=http://www.buildinghistory.org/bath/saxon/alfredsborough.shtml |title=Alfreds Borough |access-date=2007-12-12 |work=Bath Past |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090611024156/http://www.buildinghistory.org/bath/saxon/alfredsborough.shtml |archive-date=11 June 2009 }} but they disappeared during subsequent redevelopments.{{cite web|url=http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-769-1/ahds/dissemination/pdf/vol25/25_001_030.pdf |title=Excavations at Upper Borough Walls, Bath, I 980 |last=O'Leary |first=T.J. |publisher=Archaeology Data Service |access-date=2009-10-24 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613161746/http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-769-1/ahds/dissemination/pdf/vol25/25_001_030.pdf |archive-date=13 June 2011 }} The line of then formed the basis of the medieval walls enclosing {{convert|23|acre|ha}}, some which survived until the 18th century. The Anglo-Saxons called the town Baðum, Baðan or Baðon, meaning "at the baths," the source of the present name.{{cite web|url=http://www.myenglandtravel.com/history-of-bath-england.html |title=History of bath england, roman bath history |access-date=2007-12-08 |work=My England Travel Guide |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080220181930/http://www.myenglandtravel.com/history-of-bath-england.html |archive-date=20 February 2008 }} In 675, Osric, King of the Hwicce, set up a monastic house at Bath, probably using the walled area as its precinct.{{cite web|url=http://www.timetravel-britain.com/articles/towns/bathtime.shtml |title=Timeline Bath |access-date=2007-12-10 |work=Time Travel Britain |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080403054732/http://www.timetravel-britain.com/articles/towns/bathtime.shtml |archive-date= 3 April 2008 }} The Anglo-Saxon poem known as The Ruin may describe the appearance of the Roman site about this time. King Offa of Mercia gained control of this monastery in 781 and rebuilt the church, which was dedicated to St. Peter.{{cite web|title=Bath Abbey |url=http://www.uquebec.ca/musique/orgues/angleterre/batha.html#English |work=Robert Poliquin's Music and Musicians |publisher=Quebec University |access-date=18 September 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130621205423/http://www.uquebec.ca/musique/orgues/angleterre/batha.html |archive-date=21 June 2013 |df=dmy }} By the 9th century the old Roman street pattern had been lost, and Bath had become a royal possession; King Alfred laid out the town afresh, leaving its south-eastern quadrant as the abbey precinct.

File:Bath Abbey From Roman Baths Gallery.jpg from the Roman Baths Gallery]]

Bath Abbey was founded in 1499 on the site of an 8th-century church. The original Anglo-Saxon church was pulled down after 1066,{{cite book |title=Bath Abbey A History |last=Hylson-Smith |first=Kenneth |year=2003 |publisher=The Friends of Bath Abbey |location=Bath, Somerset }} and a grand cathedral dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul was begun on the site by John of Tours, Bishop of Bath and Wells, around 1090;{{cite book | last= Powicke | first= Maurice | author-link= F. M. Powicke | year= 1939 | title= Handbook of British Chronology | isbn=978-0-901050-17-5 }}{{cite book | last= Barlow | first= Frank | author-link = Frank Barlow (historian)| title= William Rufus | page= 182 | publisher=Yale University Press |date=March 2000 | isbn= 978-0-901050-17-5}} however, only the ambulatory was complete when he died in December 1122. The half-finished cathedral was devastated by fire in 1137,{{cite web|url=http://british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=40919 |title=The Cathedral Priory of Bath |last=Page |first=William |year=1911 |work=History of the County of Somerset: Volume 2 |publisher=British History Online |access-date=2008-05-17 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111027122621/http://british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=40919 |archive-date=27 October 2011 }} but work continued until about 1156; the completed building was approximately {{convert|330|ft|m|0}} long. By the 15th century, Bath's abbey church was badly dilapidated and in need of repairs.{{cite web|url=http://www.sacred-destinations.com/england/bath-abbey |title=Bath Abbey, Bath |work=Sacred Destinations |access-date=2008-05-17 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091018141230/http://www.sacred-destinations.com/england/bath-abbey |archive-date=18 October 2009 }}{{cite web|url=http://visitbath.co.uk/site/things_to_do/p_24001 |title=Bath Abbey |access-date=2007-12-10 |work=Visit Bath |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071128104614/http://visitbath.co.uk/site/things_to_do/p_24001 |archive-date=28 November 2007 }} Oliver King, Bishop of Bath and Wells, decided in 1500 to rebuild it on a smaller scale. It is in a late Perpendicular style with flying buttresses and crocketed pinnacles decorating a crenellated and pierced parapet.{{cite web|url=http://www.buildinghistory.org/bath/abbey/vertue.shtml |title=A Building of Vertue |access-date=2007-12-09 |publisher=Bath Past |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090510081753/http://www.buildinghistory.org/bath/abbey/vertue.shtml |archive-date=10 May 2009 }}{{cite web|title=Bath Abbey |work=Images of England |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442109 |access-date=2007-09-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150428135539/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442109 |archive-date=28 April 2015 }}{{cite journal|last=Luxford |first=Julian M |title=In Dreams: The sculptural iconography of the west front of Bath Abbey reassessed |journal=Religion and the Arts |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=314–336 |doi=10.1163/156852901750359103 |year=2000 }} The new church was completed just a few years before Bath Priory was dissolved in 1539 by Henry VIII.{{cite web|url=http://www.thecityofbath.co.uk/renaissance_bath.htm |title=Renaissance Bath |access-date=2007-12-09 |work=City of Bath |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516100013/http://www.thecityofbath.co.uk/renaissance_bath.htm |archive-date=16 May 2008 }} James Montague, Bishop of Bath and Wells from 1608, spent considerable sums in restoring Bath Abbey, which was re-roofed at his own expense.Stout, Adam (2020) Glastonbury Holy Thorn: Story of a Legend, Green & Pleasant Publishing, pp. 28-29 {{ISBN| 978-1-9162686-1-6}} Major restoration work was carried out by Sir George Gilbert Scott in the 1860s, funded by the rector, Charles Kemble. The choir and transepts have a fan vault by Robert and William Vertue, in the 1860s, completing the original roof from 1608. The nave was given a matching vault in the 19th century.{{cite web|url=http://www.planetware.com/bath/bath-abbey-eng-av-baabb.htm |title=Bath Abbey |access-date=2007-12-09 |work=Planet Ware |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012195250/http://www.planetware.com/bath/bath-abbey-eng-av-baabb.htm |archive-date=12 October 2007 }} The building is lit by 52 windows.

File:Bath Abbey Fan Vaulting - July 2006 crop.jpging over the nave at Bath Abbey. A Victorian restoration of the original roof from 1608]]

The medieval era is represented by the remains of the city walls in Upper Borough Walls.{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443855 |title=Medieval Wall of City, Bath |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-01-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018033950/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443855 |archive-date=18 October 2012 }} There are no other surviving buildings from this period. Several areas of the city underwent development during the Stuart period, in response to the increasing number of visitors to the spa and resort town who required accommodation.{{cite book |title=The English Spa, 1560–1815: A Social History |last=Hembury |first=Phylis May |year=1990 |publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press |isbn=978-0-8386-3391-5 }} The St Thomas à Becket Church was built between 1490 and 1498 by John Cantlow, Prior of Bath Abbey and took the place of an older Norman church.{{cite web|url=http://www.widcombebenefice.org.uk/ourchurches.html |title=Widcombe Benefice Churches |access-date=2008-11-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071109193824/http://www.widcombebenefice.org.uk/ourchurches.html |archive-date=9 November 2007 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442441 |title=Church of St Thomas a Becket |access-date=22 November 2008 |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025030142/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442441 |archive-date=25 October 2012 }} The church was commonly called Old Widcombe Church and used to be the principal church of the parishes of Widcombe and Lyncombe. The Domesday survey of 1086 shows a small settlement around the church although no trace of it remains.{{cite book |title=Discovering Widcombe and Lyncombe| author=Maurice Scott| year=1984|isbn = 978-0-9520876-0-1}} In 1847 a much larger church, St Matthews, was built in Widcombe parish. On 22 April 1847, it was announced that the church bells, which had for centuries been in the tower of St. Thomas à Becket, were to be removed and installed in the new St. Matthew's.{{cite book | author=Peach, R. E. M | year = 1893 | title = Street-lore of Bath. A Record of Changes in the Highways and Byways of the City. | url=https://archive.org/details/streetloreofbath00peac | publisher=Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., Lmtd. Bath | isbn=978-1-4097-1457-6 }} Widcombe Manor was originally built in 1656{{cite web |url=http://www.bathintime.co.uk/image.php?id=205262 |title=Widcombe Manor House and St. Thomas a Becket Church |access-date=23 November 2008 |work=Bath in Time |publisher=Dan Brown |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716032048/http://www.bathintime.co.uk/image.php?id=205262 |archive-date=16 July 2011 }} and then rebuilt in 1727 for Philip Bennet the local MP.{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442436 |title=Widcombe Manor House |access-date=23 November 2008 |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015011920/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442436 |archive-date=15 October 2012 }} Thomas Guidott, moved to Bath and set up practice in 1668. He became interested in the curative properties of the waters and he wrote A discourse of Bathe, and the hot waters there. Also, Some Enquiries into the Nature of the water in 1676. This brought the health-giving properties of the hot mineral waters to the attention of the country and soon the aristocracy started to arrive to partake in them.{{cite journal |last=Burns |first=D. Thorburn |title=Thomas Guidott (1638–1705): Physician and Chymist, contributor to the analysis of mineral waters |journal= Analytical Proceedings |volume=18 |pages=2–6 |doi=10.1039/AP9811800002 |year=1981 }}

File:aerial.view.of.bath.arp.jpg is in the centre.|alt=Distance photograph showing rows and crescents of yellow stone buildings. Several trees and hills in the background.]]

The early 18th century the central area around the Abbey was expanded including the Abbey Church Yard which contained Marshal Wade's House,{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442123 |title=Marshal Wade's House |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-07-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017221556/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442123 |archive-date=17 October 2012 }} and Trim Street,{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443846 |title=Numbers 6 and 7 Trim Street |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-09-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025012420/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443846 |archive-date=25 October 2012 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443847 |title=Number 8 Trim Street |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-09-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025012458/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443847 |archive-date=25 October 2012 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443848 |title=Number 9 Trim Street |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-09-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025012542/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443848 |archive-date=25 October 2012 }} which was named after George Trim who owned the land.{{cite book|last=Haddon|first=John|title=Portrait of Bath|publisher=Robert Hale|location=London|year=1982|page=61|isbn=978-0-7091-9883-3}} Number 5, which is also known as General Wolfe's house, is a 2-storey building with a parapet and rusticated quoins, built by Thomas Greenway. The doorway has Ionic pilasters and a tympanum decorated with the implements of war.{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443809 |title=General Wolfe's House |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-09-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018033920/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443809 |archive-date=18 October 2012 }} In 1716 the architect William Killigrew was commissioned to rebuild St John's Hospital which was founded around 1180, by Bishop Reginald Fitz Jocelin and is among the oldest almshouses in England.{{cite web|url=http://www.buildinghistory.org/jean/spiritofcare.shtml |title=The eight-hundred-year story of St John's Hospital, Bath |work=Spirit of Care |publisher=Jean Manco |access-date=2009-07-25 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090821173938/http://www.buildinghistory.org/jean/spiritofcare.shtml |archive-date=21 August 2009 }}

The 2 storey Bath stone building has a heavy ground floor arcade of round-headed arches on pillars, and retains its original window mouldings and sashes.{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442408 |title=St John's Hospital (including Chapel Court House) |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-07-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017222351/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442408 |archive-date=17 October 2012 }} Building work continued after 1727 under the 23-year-old John Wood, the Elder, his first commission in Bath.

File:The.circus.bath.arp.jpg consists of three long, curved terraces designed by the elder John Wood.]]

The dominant style of architecture in central Bath is Georgian;{{cite web|url=http://www.essential-architecture.com/STYLE/STY-E02.htm |title=Georgian architecture |access-date=2007-12-12 |work=Essential Architecture.com |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071113112203/http://www.essential-architecture.com/STYLE/STY-E02.htm |archive-date=13 November 2007 }} this evolved from the Palladian revival style which became popular in the early 18th century.

The original purpose of much of Bath's architecture is concealed by the honey-coloured classical façades; in an era before the advent of the luxury hotel, these apparently elegant residences were frequently purpose-built lodging houses, where visitors could hire a room, a floor, or (according to their means) an entire house for the duration of their visit, and be waited on by the house's communal servants.{{cite journal|last=David|first=Graham|year=2000|title=Social Decline and Slum Conditions: The Irish in Bath's History|journal=Bath History|volume=VIII}}

The architects John Wood, the Elder and his son John Wood, the Younger laid out the new quarters in streets and squares, the identical façades of which gave an impression of palatial scale and classical decorum.{{cite web|url=http://www.bathmuseum.co.uk/biography.htm |title=John Wood and the Creation of Georgian Bath |access-date=2007-12-08 |work=Building of Bath Museum |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071113094712/http://www.bathmuseum.co.uk/biography.htm |archive-date=13 November 2007 |df=dmy }} Much of the creamy gold Bath stone which was used for construction throughout the city, was obtained from the limestone Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines, which were owned by Ralph Allen (1694–1764).{{cite web |url=http://www.bathpostalmuseum.co.uk/ralph-allen.html |title=Ralph Allen Biography |access-date=6 June 2012 |work=Bath Postal Museum |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004234025/http://www.bathpostalmuseum.co.uk/ralph-allen.html |archive-date=4 October 2013 |df=dmy-all }} Allen, in order to advertise the quality of his quarried limestone, commissioned the elder John Wood to build him a country house on his Prior Park estate between the city and the mines, replacing his Town House.{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443802 |title=Ralph Allen's House, Terrace Walk, Bath |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-01-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018033819/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443802 |archive-date=18 October 2012 }}{{cite web|url=http://bathdailyphoto.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/060219bath-a-room-with-a-view/ |title=060219.Bath, A Room with a View |publisher=Bath Daily Photos |access-date=2009-04-16 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080821081451/http://bathdailyphoto.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/060219bath-a-room-with-a-view/ |archive-date=21 August 2008 }} Queen Square was the first speculative development by John Wood, the Elder who lived in one of the houses.{{cite web |url=http://www.ukattraction.com/west-country/queens-square.htm |title=Queen Square |access-date=2008-01-10 |work=UK attractions |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080419022417/http://www.ukattraction.com/west-country/queens-square.htm |archive-date = 19 April 2008|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|title=Queen Square (north side) |work=Images of England |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=443387 |access-date=2008-01-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018003651/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443387 |archive-date=18 October 2012 }} Queen Square was described by Nikolaus Pevsner as "one of the finest Palladian compositions in England before 1730".{{cite web |url=http://www.terrorkitten.com/iblog/index.php?showimage=703 |title=Obelisk For Frederick, Prince of Wales (1707–1751)  Queen Square, Bath |publisher=Terror Kitten |access-date=2009-10-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080210130235/http://www.terrorkitten.com/iblog/index.php?showimage=703 |archive-date=10 February 2008 }}

The west side (numbers 14–18 and 18A, 19 and 20) was designed by John Pinch the younger in 1830 and differs from Wood's original design as the central block is in Neo-Grecian style.{{cite web|title=Queen Square (west side) |work=Images of England |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=443386 |access-date=2008-01-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018003514/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443386 |archive-date=18 October 2012 }} The Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution (BRLSI) now occupies 16–18. The south side (numbers 5–13) was originally left open, but is now occupied by a hotel.{{cite web|title=Queen Square (south side) |work=Images of England |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=443385 |access-date=2008-01-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018003728/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443385 |archive-date=18 October 2012 }} The obelisk in the centre of the square was erected by Beau Nash in 1738.{{cite web|title=Queen Square obelisk |work=Images of England |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=443388 |access-date=2008-01-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022003738/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=443388 |archive-date=22 October 2012 }}

File:Pulteney Bridge, Bath 2.jpg architect Robert Adam designed Pulteney Bridge, based on an unused design for the Rialto Bridge in Venice.]]

The Circus is seen as the pinnacle of Wood's work. It consists of three long, curved terraces designed by the elder John Wood to form a circular space or theatre intended for civic functions and games. The games give a clue to the design, the inspiration behind which was the Colosseum in Rome.{{cite book |title=Georgian Summer |last=Gadd |first=David |year=1987 |publisher=Countryside Books }}

Like the Colosseum, the three façades have a different order of architecture on each floor: Doric on the ground level, then Ionic on the piano nobile and finishing with Corinthian on the upper floor, the style of the building thus becoming progressively more ornate as it rises.

Gay Street links Queen Square to The Circus. It was designed by John Wood, the Elder in 1735 and completed by his son John Wood, the Younger. The houses are of 3 storeys with Mansard roofs, with many also having Ionic columns. Hester Thrale, who was also known as Mrs Piozzi, lived at number 8, with its 4 Corinthian pilasters on the ground and 1st floors in 1781.{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442552 |title=Nos 2 to 17 (consec) Gay Street |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-07-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017222749/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442552 |archive-date=17 October 2012 }}

Number 41 is on the corner between Gay Street and Queen Square. It was the home of John Wood, the Younger.{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442556 |title=No 41 Gay Street |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-07-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017222813/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442556 |archive-date=17 October 2012 }}

One of the main shopping streets is now Milsom Street, which was built in 1762 by Thomas Lightholder. The buildings were originally grand town houses with mansard roofs and Corinthian columns.{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443087 |title=Numbers 2 to 22 Milsom Street |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-08-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024201156/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443087 |archive-date=24 October 2012 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443088 |title=Numbers 25 to 36 Milsom Street |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-08-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024201217/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443088 |archive-date=24 October 2012 }}

The bank at number 24 was built by Wilson and Willcox and includes baroque detail not seen on the other buildings.{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=446686 |title=No 24 (National Westminster Bank) |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-08-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024201136/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=446686 |archive-date=24 October 2012 }} Numbers 37 to 42 which are known as Somersetshire Buildings have been designated as Grade I listed buildings.{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443089 |title=Nos 37 & 38 Nos 39 & 40 Nos 41 & 42 Milsom Street |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-08-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018003118/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443089 |archive-date=18 October 2012 }}

The Octagon Chapel was a place of worship when it was built in 1767,{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443091 |title=Octagon Chapel |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-08-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018003155/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443091 |archive-date=18 October 2012 }} then a furniture shop by Mallett Antiques, and is now a restaurant.{{cite web|url=http://www.dlgarchitects.com/upload/pdf/czaUQvUAiFCgfGF1yvFry3ORIFNZ1gNDDp71tpXF.pdf |title=The Octagon, Bath |year=2009 |publisher=RLG architects |access-date=2009-07-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100326154304/http://www.dlgarchitects.com/upload/pdf/czaUQvUAiFCgfGF1yvFry3ORIFNZ1gNDDp71tpXF.pdf |archive-date=26 March 2010 }}

Milsom Street leads uphill, from the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases, which was founded in 1738 as The Mineral Water Hospital,{{cite web|title=Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases |work=Images of England |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=443857 |access-date=2006-06-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071117184203/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=443857 |archive-date=17 November 2007 }} to The Paragon which overlooks the Walcot area. The Paragon was designed by Thomas Warr Attwood.{{cite web |url=http://www.yessy.com/DavidBaker/Bath.html?i=31493 |title=The Paragon Bath #1 |last=Lewis Baker |first=David |publisher=Yessy art gallery |access-date=2009-08-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716114319/http://www.yessy.com/DavidBaker/Bath.html?i=31493 |archive-date=16 July 2011 }} Each building has matching doors and windows with central pediments and flat entablatures either side of the 1st floor windows and Tuscan pilasters and pediments to the doorways.{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443210 |title=Numbers 1 to 21 The Paragon |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-08-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018033901/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443210 |archive-date=18 October 2012 }} Numbers 22 to 37 continue the theme from numbers 1 to 21 and were completed in 1775 by Joseph Axford, a local mason. Numbers 28 to 32 were damaged by bombing during World War II but have since been restored.{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443211 |title=Numbers 22 to 37 The Paragon |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-08-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024210929/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443211 |archive-date=24 October 2012 }}

St Swithin's Church was built between 1779 and 1790 by John Palmer.{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443214 |title=Church of St Swithin, Walcot |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-08-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022003833/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=443214 |archive-date=22 October 2012 }} The church house which forms number 38 The Paragon was built in the early 18th century.{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443213 |title=Walcot Church House |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-08-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024211019/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443213 |archive-date=24 October 2012 }} The adjoining cemetery has gates with a rusticated base and panels with inverted torches between pilasters. There is an entablature with metopes and triglyphs.{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443212 |title=Walcot Cemetery Gates |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-08-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024211054/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443212 |archive-date=24 October 2012 }}

File:Royal Crescent Ha-ha.jpg in front of the Royal Crescent gives an uninterrupted view of the crescent from Royal Victoria Park.]]

The best known of Bath's terraces is the Royal Crescent, built between 1767 and 1774 and designed by the younger John Wood.{{cite web|title=Royal Crescent |work=Images of England |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=447275 |access-date=2006-11-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071219035854/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=447275 |archive-date=19 December 2007 }} But all is not what it seems; while Wood designed the great curved façade of what appears to be about 30 houses with Ionic columns on a rusticated ground floor, that was the extent of his input. Each purchaser bought a certain length of the façade, and then employed their own architect to build a house to their own specifications behind it; hence what appears to be two houses is sometimes one. This system of town planning is betrayed at the rear of the crescent: while the front is completely uniform and symmetrical, the rear is a mixture of differing roof heights, juxtapositions and fenestration. This "Queen Anne fronts and Mary-Anne backs" architecture occurs repeatedly in Bath.{{cite book |title=Subjects and Citizens: Nation, Race, and Gender from Oroonoko to Anita Hill |last=Moon |first=Michael |author2=Cathy N. Davidson |year=1995 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=978-0-8223-1539-1 }}

In front of the Royal Crescent is a Ha-ha, a trench on which the inner side of which is vertical and faced with stone, with the outer face sloped and turfed, making the trench, in effect, a sunken fence or retaining wall. The ha-ha is designed not to interrupt the view from Royal Victoria Park, and to be invisible until seen from close by.

The other crescents which give Bath its architectural identity include: Camden Crescent which was built by John Eveleigh in 1788,{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442386 |title=Camden Crescent |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-07-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017222203/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442386 |archive-date=17 October 2012 }} and damaged by a landslide in 1889,{{cite web|url=http://www.cityofbath.co.uk/sign/camndencrescent.html |title=Camden Crescent |publisher=City of Bath |access-date=2009-07-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080928081951/http://www.cityofbath.co.uk/sign/camndencrescent.html |archive-date=28 September 2008 }} Lansdown Crescent, designed by John Palmer and constructed by a variety of builders between 1789 and 1793,{{cite web|title=1 to 20 Lansdown Crescent |work=Images of England |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442760 |access-date=14 November 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150502233639/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442760 |archive-date= 2 May 2015 }} and Somerset Place for which the facades were designed by the architect John Eveleigh who went bankrupt during the building, which started in 1790 but was not completed until the 1820s.{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443615 |title=Numbers 5 to 20, Somerset Place, Bath |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-01-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018004620/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443615 |archive-date=18 October 2012 }} Some of Somerset Crescent was destroyed during the Second World War and rebuilt as student accommodation in the 1950s and 1960s. It used to form part of the campus of Bath Spa University, but has since been sold.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/4253516.stm |title=Entire Bath crescent up for sale |work=BBC News |publisher=BBC |access-date=2009-02-26 |date=2005-09-17 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060323205400/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/4253516.stm |archive-date=23 March 2006 }}

File:Bath Pump Room & Baths.jpg

The area of North Parade, South Parade, Pierrepont and Duke Streets was part of a wider scheme to build a Royal Forum, similar to Queen Square, which was never completed. Wood designed the facade, of Bath stone, after which a variety of builders completed the work with different interiors and rear elevations. Many of the buildings are now hotels and shops whilst some remain as private residences.{{cite web|url=http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/SiteCollectionDocuments/Environment%20and%20Planning/Low%20res%20World%20Site%20Plan.pdf |work=Bath World Heritage Site Management Plan |title=The City of Bath World Heritage Site Management Plan |publisher=Bath and North East Somerset Council |access-date=2010-11-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120312080503/http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/SiteCollectionDocuments/Environment%20and%20Planning/Low%20res%20World%20Site%20Plan.pdf |archive-date=12 March 2012 }}

North Parade Bridge was built almost 100 years later in 1836 by William Tierney Clark. His original bridge was made of cast iron on stone abutments, with lodges and staircases. This was rebuilt in 1936 completely in stone.{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=446800 |title=North Parade Bridge including lodges |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-07-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024191711/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=446800 |archive-date=24 October 2012 }} Many of the buildings in South Parade are now hotels and restaurants whilst some remain as private residences. The area which Wood envisaged as an area of sunken gardens matching the houses is now a car park.{{cite book|last=Arnold|first=Dana|title=Reading architectural history – Looking Back And Ahead|publisher=Routledge|year=2002|page=119|chapter=Architecture in Britain 1530–1830|isbn=978-0-415-25050-4|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ALDewIcLZJ4C&q=South+Parade+Bath+architecture+history&pg=PA118|access-date=9 November 2020|archive-date=2 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230702100138/https://books.google.com/books?id=ALDewIcLZJ4C&q=South+Parade+Bath+architecture+history&pg=PA118|url-status=live}}

On the southern side of the road is the Roman Catholic St John's Church, which was designed and built between 1861 and 1863 by Charles Francis Hansom{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443620 |title=Roman Catholic Church of St John |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-07-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024192007/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443620 |archive-date=24 October 2012 }} who added the {{convert|222|ft|adj=on}} spire in 1867.

The heart of the Georgian city were Wood's Assembly Rooms,{{cite web|title=Assembly Rooms |work=Images of England |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442119 |access-date=2007-11-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018034231/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442119 |archive-date=18 October 2012 }} and the Pump Room, which, together with its associated Lower Assembly Rooms, was designed by Thomas Baldwin, a local builder responsible for many other buildings in the city, including the terraces in Argyle Street,{{cite book |title=A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600–1840 |last=Colvin |first=Howard |author-link=Howard Colvin |isbn=978-0-300-07207-5 |year=1997 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven }} the Guildhall,{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442118 |title=Guildhall |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-07-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120531182450/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442118 |archive-date=31 May 2012 }} The Cross Bath,{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442195 |title=The Cross Bath |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-07-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017222026/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442195 |archive-date=17 October 2012 }} Widcombe Crescent{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=444033 |title=Number 1 to 14 Widcombe Crescent |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-09-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018034010/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=444033 |archive-date=18 October 2012 }} and Royal Baths Treatment Centre in Bath Street.{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442194 |title=Nos 9 to 16 (consec) (part of Royal Baths Treatment Centre) |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-07-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090615202319/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442194 |archive-date=15 June 2009 }}

The Grand Pump Room itself includes a North Colonnade of 9 bays, with unfluted Ionic columns.{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442111 |title=North Colonnade at Grand Pump Room |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-07-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090213154314/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442111 |archive-date=13 February 2009 }} The South Colonnade is similar but had an upper floor added in the late 19th century.{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442112 |title=South Colonnade at Grand Pump Room |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-07-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090207165402/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442112 |archive-date= 7 February 2009 }}

The colonnades and side wall of the Pump Room have a facade on Stall Street. Baldwin rose rapidly, becoming a leader in Bath's architectural history. Great Pulteney Street, where Baldwin eventually lived, is another of his works: this wide boulevard, constructed {{circa|1789}} and over {{convert|1000|ft|m|0}} long and {{convert|100|ft|m|0}} wide, leading from Laura Place is lined on both sides by Georgian terraces.{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442581 |title=Nos 1 to 7 (consec) Great Pulteney Street Bath |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-01-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101006184816/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442581 |archive-date= 6 October 2010 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442583 |title=N0 41a Nos 42 to 77 (consec) Great Pulteney Street Bath |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-01-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101006233335/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442583 |archive-date= 6 October 2010 }}

Around 1770 the neoclassical architect Robert Adam designed Pulteney Bridge, a three-arched bridge spanning the Avon. He used as his prototype an original, but unused, design by Andrea Palladio for the Rialto Bridge in Venice.{{cite journal |last=Manco |first=Jean |year=1995 |title=Pulteney Bridge |journal=Architectural History|volume=38 |pages=129–145 |doi=10.2307/1568625 |publisher=SAHGB Publications Limited |jstor=1568625 |s2cid=246044781 }} Thus, Pulteney Bridge became not just a means of crossing the river, but also a shopping arcade. Along with the Rialto Bridge, is one of the very few surviving bridges in Europe to serve this dual purpose. It has been substantially altered since it was built. The bridge was named after Frances and William Pulteney, the owners of the Bathwick estate for which the bridge provided a link to the rest of Bath.

File:Bath02.jpg, which was commissioned by Sir William Pulteney, towards the Holburne Museum of Art.]]

At the end of Great Pulteney Street is the Holburne Museum of Art, which was originally designed as the Sydney Hotel and was built by Charles Harcourt Masters in 1795–6.{{cite web|title=Holburne of Menstrie Museum |work=Images of England |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=443742 |access-date=2007-10-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150428181731/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443742 |archive-date=28 April 2015 }} It stands on Sydney Place and within the Sydney Pleasure Gardens which stretch from the road to the Kennet and Avon Canal. Next to the church of St Mary the Virgin is Bathwick Hill which leads up to Claverton Down and the campus of the University of Bath; beyond is Claverton Manor, which was built in 1820{{cite web |title=Claverton Manor (The American Museum) |work=historicengland.org.uk |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1214609 |access-date=2006-12-16 |archive-date=14 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614000338/https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1214609 |url-status=live }} and is now home to the American Museum.{{cite web|url=http://www.americanmuseum.org |title=The American Museum |access-date=2009-09-24 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110623181043/http://www.americanmuseum.org/ |archive-date=23 June 2011 }}

The early 18th century saw Bath acquire its first purpose-built theatre, the Theatre Royal, along with the Grand Pump Room attached to the Roman Baths and assembly rooms. Master of Ceremonies Beau Nash, who presided over the city's social life from 1705 until his death in 1761, drew up a code of behaviour for public entertainments.{{cite book |title=The Imaginary Autocrat: Beau Nash and the invention of Bath |last=Eglin |first=John |year=2005 |publisher=Profile |isbn=978-1-86197-302-3 }} The population of the city had reached 40,020 by the time of the 1801 census, making it one of the largest cities in Britain, which was expanding up the surrounding hills.{{cite web|url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit_page.jsp?u_id=10167607 |title=A vision of Bath |access-date=2007-12-08 |work=Britain through time |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012162314/http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit_page.jsp?u_id=10167607 |archive-date=12 October 2007 }}

William Thomas Beckford bought a house in Lansdown Crescent in 1822, eventually buying a further two houses in the crescent to form his residence. Having acquired all the land between his home and the top of Lansdown Hill, north of the city centre, he created a garden over half a mile in length and built Beckford's Tower at the top.{{cite web|title=Beckford's Tower & Mortuary Chapel, Lansdown Cemetery |work=Images of England |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442844 |access-date=2007-10-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080202231650/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442844 |archive-date= 2 February 2008 }}

To the west Partis College was built in the Newbridge area as a large block of almshouses between 1825 and 1827.{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443111 |title=Partis College, including lodge and wrought iron gates |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-07-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018003227/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443111 |archive-date=18 October 2012 }} It was founded by Ann and Fletcher Partis for women "who had been left in reduced circumstances", and still provides accommodation, in 30 terraced houses set around three sides of a quadrangle, for women, aged over 50 in membership of the Church of England.{{cite web|url=http://www.partiscollege.com/history.html |title=History |publisher=Partis College |access-date=2009-07-19 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100730034403/http://partiscollege.com/history.html |archive-date=30 July 2010 }}

In 1862, George Gilbert Scott redesigned the original chapel, which had been built by Goodrich.

{{Clear}}

{{wide image|Royal Crescent in Bath, England - July 2006.jpg|900px|alt=Wide image of a symmetrical semicircular terrace of yellow stone buildings. Grass in the foreground.|A panoramic view of the Royal Crescent}}

File:Clevelandhouse.JPG]]

In the early 19th century the romantic Gothic Revival style appeared as a backlash to the symmetry of Palladianism, which brought certain changes to the city's appearance. Many of the new churches, for example, were built in the Gothic style as were a number of new villas. Most of the new civic and retail buildings however continued to be designed in the classical mode but along much more ornamented and elaborate lines than their 18th century predecessors. However virtually all the new buildings were constructed using the local bath stone so the city continued to have a cohesive look. By the middle of the 19th century, as a result of new technology, construction was able to develop incorporating steel as a building component.

In 1810 the Kennet and Avon Canal opened linking the River Avon at Bath to Reading. Bath Locks mark the divergence of the River Avon and the canal, {{convert|656|yd|m|0}} south of Pulteney Bridge.{{cite web|title=Bath Bottom Lock |work=Images of England |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442708 |access-date=2006-09-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019202752/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442708 |archive-date=19 October 2012 }} Alongside the bottom lock are a side pound and a pumping station that pumps water up the locks to replace that used each time the lock is opened.{{cite web|title=Former engine house |work=Images of England |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442710 |access-date=2006-09-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021231713/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442710 |archive-date=21 October 2012 }}

The next stage of Bath Deep Lock is numbered 8/9 as two locks were combined when the canal was restored in 1976.{{cite web|title=Second Lock |work=Images of England |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442716 |access-date=2006-09-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071116175605/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442716 |archive-date=16 November 2007 }} The new chamber has a depth of {{convert|19|ft|5|in|m}}, making it Britain's deepest canal lock.{{cite book |last=Allsop |first=Niall |title=The Kennet & Avon Canal |year=1987 |publisher=Millstream Book |location=Bath, Somerset |isbn=978-0-948975-15-8 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/kennetavoncanalu0000alls }}{{cite web|title=Deepest Canal Locks in England |work=Pennine Waterways |url=http://www.penninewaterways.co.uk/locks.htm |access-date=2007-10-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012153244/http://penninewaterways.co.uk/locks.htm |archive-date=12 October 2007 }} Just above the 'deep lock' is an area of water enabling the lock to refill and above this is Wash House Lock,{{cite web|title=Wash House Lock |work=Images of England |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442711 |access-date=2006-09-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013163820/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442711 |archive-date=13 October 2007 }} followed by Abbey View Lock,{{cite web|title=Abbey View Lock |work=Images of England |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442714 |access-date=2006-09-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071010051344/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442714 |archive-date=10 October 2007 }} by which there is another pumping station and, in quick succession, Pultney Lock and Bath Top Lock.{{cite web|title=Top Lock |work=Images of England |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442717 |access-date=2006-09-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071202013750/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442717 |archive-date= 2 December 2007 }}

Above the top lock the canal passes through Sydney Gardens including two short tunnels{{cite web|title=Tunnel under Beckford Road |work=Images of England |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442754 |access-date=2006-09-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071127212234/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442754 |archive-date=27 November 2007 }}{{cite web|title=Tunnel under Cleveland House and Sydney Road |work=Images of England |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442751 |access-date=2006-09-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013163701/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442751 |archive-date=13 October 2007 }} and under two cast iron footbridges dating from 1800. Cleveland tunnel is {{convert|173|ft|m}} long and runs under Cleveland House, the former headquarters of the Kennet and Avon Canal Company. A trap-door in the tunnel roof was used to pass paperwork between clerks above and bargees below.{{cite book |last=Pearson |first=Michael |title=Kennet & Avon Middle Thames:Pearson's Canal Companion |year=2003 |publisher=Central Waterways Supplies|location=Rugby |isbn=978-0-907864-97-4}}{{cite web|title=Cleveland House |work=Images of England |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=443799 |access-date=2006-09-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121012232130/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=443799 |archive-date=12 October 2012 }}

Many of the bridges over the canal are also listed buildings.{{cite web|title=Footbridge Adjoining Top Lock |work=Images of England |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442749 |access-date=2006-09-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071116175133/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442749 |archive-date=16 November 2007 }}{{cite web|title=Footbridge adjoining Wash House Lock |work=Images of England |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442712 |access-date=2006-09-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071118211846/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442712 |archive-date=18 November 2007 }}{{cite web|title=Footbridge over Canal |work=Images of England |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442752 |access-date=2006-09-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014180935/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442752 |archive-date=14 October 2007 }}{{cite web|title=Canal Bridge |work=Images of England |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=444245 |access-date=2006-09-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022002952/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=444245 |archive-date=22 October 2012 }}{{cite web|title=Bridge over Canal |work=Images of England |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442753 |access-date=2006-09-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022003021/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442753 |archive-date=22 October 2012 }}{{cite web|title=Canal Bridge (Pulteney Gardens) |work=Images of England |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442713 |access-date=2006-09-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071122020509/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442713 |archive-date=22 November 2007 }}

Victoria Bridge, which was built in 1836 across the River Avon, was an important early example of a cable-stayed bridge.{{cite journal |last=Griffiths |first=R.A. |title=Analysis of James Dredge's Victor Bridge, Bath |journal=Proceedings of Bridge Engineering 2 Conference 2009 |date=April 2009 |url=http://www.bath.ac.uk/ace/uploads/StudentProjects/Bridgeconference2009/Papers/GRIFFITHS.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304090727/http://www.bath.ac.uk/ace/uploads/StudentProjects/Bridgeconference2009/Papers/GRIFFITHS.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2016 |access-date=17 November 2011 }}{{cite web|title=James Dredges Suspension Bridges |url=http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/index.php?title=James_Dredges_Suspension_Bridges |publisher=SABRE |access-date=17 November 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107201942/http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/index.php?title=James_Dredges_Suspension_Bridges |archive-date= 7 November 2012 }}

As the size of the city and numbers of visitors grew new facilities opened. Cleveland Pools in Hampton Row, is a semi-circular lido built, by John Pinch the elder, around 1814.{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=445855 |title=Cleveland Baths |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-08-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301214737/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=445855 |archive-date= 1 March 2012 }} It is believed to be the oldest surviving public outdoor swimming pools in England.{{cite web|url=http://www.romanbaths.co.uk/pdf/Heritage%20Open%20Days%2009%20FINAL.pdf |title=Heritage Open Days |publisher=Bath and North East Somerset Council |access-date=2009-08-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722062219/http://www.romanbaths.co.uk/pdf/Heritage%20Open%20Days%2009%20FINAL.pdf |archive-date=22 July 2011 }}

The Corridor is one of the world's earliest retail arcades, designed by architect Henry Goodridge and built in 1825, with a glass roof. The High Street end has a Doric colonnade. Each end has marble columns.{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442459 |title=The Corridor |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-09-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025020024/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442459 |archive-date=25 October 2012 }} A musicians gallery, with a wrought iron balustrade and gilt lions heads and garlands, is in the centre of the arcade. Cleveland Bridge was built in 1826 by William Hazledine with Henry Goodridge as the architect.{{cite web|title=Cleveland Bridge |work=Images of England |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442453 |access-date=2007-10-30 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022003620/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442453 |archive-date=22 October 2012 }}

St Michael's Church was rebuilt between 1835 and 1837 and St. Stephen's Church built in Walcot by James Wilson, between 1840 and 1845.{{cite web|title=Church of St Stephen |work=Images of England |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442817 |access-date=2007-10-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022003317/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442817 |archive-date=22 October 2012 }} The Bear Flat area south of the city centre was started by the Georgians but the main estate of Poets' Corner is late Victorian and Edwardian.

File:Cleveland Bridge Bath England in 1830 engraving by FP Hay.jpg

The opening of the Great Western Railway in 1841 removed much of the canal's traffic, and in 1852 the railway company took over its running. Bath Spa railway station is the principal railway station in Bath. It was built in 1840 by Brunel.{{cite web|title=Bath Spa Station |work=Images of England |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=443080 |access-date=2006-12-15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025030211/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=443080 |archive-date=25 October 2012 }} It is in an asymmetrical Tudor style with curving gables, and lies on the north bank of the Avon, with the line swerving elegantly across from the southern bank to the station and then back again.

Green Park railway station opened in 1870 as the terminus of Midland Railway's Mangotsfield and Bath Branch Line. For some of its life, it was known as Bath Queen Square. It includes a vaulted glass roof in a single-span wrought iron arch structure. Parts of the distinctive glass roof were damaged during bombing raids in April 1942, and the glazing was not re-instated during railway usage after the war. Following the Beeching Report, passenger trains ceased from 1966 and the last goods train ran in 1971. In the 1980s the rail approaches to the station were redeveloped as a major supermarket opened in December 1982, and the station itself is used as a pedestrian passageway to and from the city; there are a number of small shop units in the former station buildings.

The Victoria Art Gallery, a free public art museum and library was built between the Guildhall and Pulteney Bridge.{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442375 |title=Victoria Art Gallery and Library |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=2009-09-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090615202324/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442375 |archive-date=15 June 2009 }} It was designed by John McKean Brydon. The exterior of the building includes a statue of Queen Victoria, by A. C. Lucchesi, and friezes of classical figures by George Anderson Lawson.{{cite web |url=http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/speel/place/bath.htm |title=The Victoria Art Gallery, Bath |access-date=2007-10-28 |work=The website of Bob Speel |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070502104752/http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/speel/place/bath.htm |archive-date=2 May 2007 }}

File:The Forum Bath.JPG which opened as a cinema in 1934, and has since been converted into a church and concert venue]]

The Empire Hotel was built in 1901 on Orange Grove close to both Bath Abbey and Pulteney Bridge.{{cite web|title=Empire Hotel |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=448647 |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=31 December 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102091135/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=448647 |archive-date= 2 November 2012 }}

In the 1920s and 1930s Bath's architectural traditions combined with an art deco style in buildings such as The Forum which opened as a 2,000-seat cinema in 1934, and has since been converted into a church and concert venue.{{cite web|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=448551 |title=The Forum |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=19 September 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025030052/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=448551 |archive-date=25 October 2012 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.bathforum.co.uk/1/history.html |title=History |publisher=The Forum |access-date=19 September 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091016080908/http://www.bathforum.co.uk/1/history.html |archive-date=16 October 2009 }} The Royal United Hospital opened in the Weston suburb, about {{convert|1.5|mi|km|1}} from the city centre in 1932.

During World War II, between the evening of 25 April and the early morning of 27 April 1942, Bath suffered three air raids in reprisal for RAF raids on the German cities of Lübeck and Rostock, part of the Luftwaffe campaign popularly known as the Baedeker Blitz. Over 400 people were killed, and more than 19,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed.{{cite web|url=http://www.royalcrescentbath.com/HistoryBathatWar.htm |title=History – Bath at War |access-date=2007-12-09 |work=Royal Crescent Society, Bath |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://archive.today/20070519191111/http://www.royalcrescentbath.com/HistoryBathatWar.htm |archive-date=19 May 2007 |df=dmy }} Houses in the Royal Crescent, Circus and Paragon were burnt out along with the Assembly Rooms, while part of the south side of Queen Square was destroyed.{{cite web|url=http://www.royalcrescentbath.com/HistoryRoyalCrescent%202.htm |title=Royal Crescent History: The Day Bombs fell on Bath |access-date=2007-12-09 |work=Royal Crescent Society, Bath |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://archive.today/20080131165322/http://www.royalcrescentbath.com/HistoryRoyalCrescent%25202.htm |archive-date=31 January 2008 |df=dmy }}

A postwar review of inadequate housing led to the clearance and redevelopment of large areas of the city in a postwar style, often at variance with the Georgian style of the city. In the 1950s the nearby villages of Combe Down, Twerton and Weston were incorporated into Bath to enable the development of further housing, much of it council housing such as the Whiteway estate.

In the 1970s and 1980s it was recognised that conservation of historic buildings was inadequate, leading to more care and reuse of buildings and open spaces. In 1987 the city was selected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, recognising its international cultural significance.{{cite web|url=http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/BathNES/environmentandplanning/worldheritagesite/|title=Bath – World Heritage Site|publisher=Bath and North East Somerset Council|access-date=2009-10-22 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080429051726/http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/BathNES/environmentandplanning/worldheritagesite/ |archive-date = 29 April 2008}}

File:Thermae Bath Spa.jpg]]

In the 1960s and early 1970s the way in which some parts of Bath were redeveloped, resulting in the loss of some 18th- and 19th-century buildings, led to a popular campaign to change the way the city was developing, which drew strength from the publication of Adam Fergusson's The Sack of Bath.{{cite book |title=The Image of Georgian Bath, 1700–2000: Towns, Heritage, and History |last=Borsay |first=Peter |year=2000 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-820265-3 }} Since 2000, developments have included the Bath Spa, SouthGate, and the Bath Western Riverside project.{{cite web|url=http://www.southgatebath.com |title=South Gate Bath |access-date=2007-12-08 |work=Morley |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081026101629/http://www.southgatebath.com/ |archive-date=26 October 2008 }}

Controversy continued with the demolition of the 1930s Churchill House, a mock-Georgian municipal building originally housing the Electricity Board, to make way for the new Bath Bus Station. This was part of the Southgate redevelopment begun in 2007 in which the central 1960s shopping precinct, bus station, and multi-story carpark were demolished and replaced with a new area of mock-Georgian shopping streets.{{cite web|url=http://www.southgatebath.com/ |title=SouthGate Official Website |access-date=2008-11-01 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081026101629/http://www.southgatebath.com/ |archive-date=26 October 2008 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.bathheritagewatchdog.org/churchill.htm |title=BATH HERITAGE WATCHDOG |access-date=2008-11-01 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007122032/http://www.bathheritagewatchdog.org/churchill.htm |archive-date= 7 October 2008 }} As a result of the changes the city's status as a World Heritage Site was reviewed by UNESCO in 2009.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/apr/06/bath-heritage-architecture |title=Will Bath lose its World Heritage status? |last=Glancey |first=Jonathan |date=2009-04-06 |work=The Guardian |location=London |access-date=2009-04-06 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090409064044/http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/apr/06/bath-heritage-architecture |archive-date= 9 April 2009 }} The decision was made to let Bath keep its status, but UNESCO asked to be consulted on future phases of the Riverside development,{{cite news | url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/8119528.stm | title= Bath keeps world heritage status | date= 25 June 2009 | work= BBC News | access-date= 13 September 2009 | archive-date= 23 January 2021 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210123225453/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/somerset/8119528.stm | url-status= live }} saying that the density and volume of buildings in the second and third phases of the development needed to be reconsidered.{{cite web|url=http://www.bath-preservation-trust.org.uk/index.php?s=file_download&id=118 |format=PDF |title=UNESCO demand for enhanced protection of Bath's surrounding landscape 'urgent and timely', says Bath Preservation Trust |publisher=Bath Preservation Trust |date=25 June 2009 |access-date=13 September 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090830190103/http://www.bath-preservation-trust.org.uk/index.php?s=file_download&id=118 |archive-date=30 August 2009 }} It also said that Bath must do more to attract world-class architecture to any new developments.

In 2021, Bath received its second UNESCO World Heritage inscription, becoming part of a group of 11 spa towns across seven countries that were listed by UNESCO as the "Great Spas of Europe".{{cite news|url=https://www.dpa-international.com/topic/great-spas-europe-awarded-unesco-world-heritage-status-urn%3Anewsml%3Adpa.com%3A20090101%3A210724-99-511232|title='Great Spas of Europe' awarded UNESCO World Heritage status|first=Andreas|last=Landwehr|work=Deutsche Presse-Agentur|date=24 July 2021|access-date=25 July 2021|archive-date=25 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210725045739/https://www.dpa-international.com/topic/great-spas-europe-awarded-unesco-world-heritage-status-urn%3Anewsml%3Adpa.com%3A20090101%3A210724-99-511232|url-status=live}}

• Grade I listed buildings in Bath and North East Somerset
• Grade II* listed buildings in Bath and North East Somerset
• List of tourist attractions in Bath
• Bath Preservation Trust

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{{Commons|Bath, Somerset|Bath, Somerset}}

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Category:Architecture in England