Here are some random views of Bath, pictures I love to look at!! Unless otherwise noted, I took the photographs. I spent a week in Bath in July 2018 at the end of the JASNA summer tour of England. I stayed at the St Francis Hotel in Queens Square where I completed a writing project as well as wandering at leisure around the city. I had visited before, but always seemed rushed. So taking my time and really enjoying the city was a great pleasure.
Bath is a UNESCO World Heritage City, celebrating the amazingly unified and harmonious architecture and the city's position in the Georgian society to which it catered.
Above, the Assembly rooms (at the lower left) and the Circus, photographed from a balloon by
Roger Beale, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44942471
Roger Beale, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44942471
Above and below, the Circus. Note the three orders of columns, ground level: Doric; above, Ionic; top, Corinthian. And along the roof line, a series of stone acorns. The dry grass was the result of a very hot and dry summer in 2018. Ignore both the grass and the autos if you please.
This Stone Acorn was taken from the parapet of the circus, created about 1760. The label in the Museum of Bath Architecture reads, "By placing acorns along the top of the Circus, John Wood was making references to both Bladud (the mythical founder of Bath who discovered the healing hot waters), as well as to the Druids, who were the 'Princes of the Hollow Oak'...The Circus...inspired by ancient stone circles."
This aerial shot of The Royal Crescent (Photo by
Jonathan Lucas - English wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6187720) shows the elegant sweep of the lawn and the graceful curve of the terrace of houses.
Jonathan Lucas - English wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6187720) shows the elegant sweep of the lawn and the graceful curve of the terrace of houses.
Eliminate the cars and paving, add some green to the grass, and you can easily see the unique qualities of the Royal Crescent in 2018, above, and in old prints below. The Royal Crescent was built by John Wood the Younger, begun in 1767 and completed in 1775. Comprised of 30 individual houses, it is five hundred feet long with 114 Ionic columns.
Note that however harmonious and identical the facades appear in the front, the backs of the buildings vary greatly. It is something of a shocker when you walk around to the back, as you can see in this picture from wikipedia.
Here is another aerial photograph showing the Circus and the Royal Crescent in relationship to one another, down one short stretch of Brock Street. The photo is by
M. Caine http://www.icons-multimedia.com
M. Caine http://www.icons-multimedia.com
Queen's Square, built by John Wood the Elder, was begun in 1728 and completed in 1736. Visit Bath writes, "It marks the beginning of his development of the upper town and is a key part of the formal grouping with the Circus and the Royal Crescent.The focal point of the square is the obelisk, with its inscription by Alexander Pope. It was erected by Beau Nash in 1738 in honour of a visit by Frederick, Prince of Wales. The obelisk used to have a needle point, but it was blunted after being struck by lightning in the 1830s."
Queen Square is a popular meeting point and often filled with students, tourists, children, and other residents. The north side of the square, No. 24, is now the office complex of a firm of solicitors and its elegance has been entirely preserved.
Queen Square, north terrace, by William Watts in 1819, Victoria Art Gallery
The elegance continues around the square, and here you would find another firm of solicitors.
And below, the South side of Queen Square where the St. Francis Hotel was my home away from home. On the interior walls, the wallpaper honored the local architecture and the architects and residents of the building.
Just south of Queen Square, I noticed this. The Beau Nash House is now an Italian Restaurant (very good food, BTW). Richard Nash (1674-1761) was the Master of Ceremonies in Bath for many decades and as responsible as any other individual for the growth of the city as a fashionable Georgian destination.
When I first beheld Bath, I thought the building in the picture below was a travesty. Now known as the Empire Hotel, it was then, decades ago, blackened with years of soot, one of the dingiest of the Victorian monstrosities found all over England -- certainly it did not belong in Bath. It was built in 1899-1901, as a hotel, and such it remained until 1939 when it was taken for the war effort by the Admiralty. Were they to launch aircraft carriers on the Avon? Reports say it was used to sort postal materials. After 1995, when it was given up by the government, it was restored, cleaned and turned into apartments and hotel accommodations, achieving Grade II listing. I still think it sticks out like a sore thumb in Georgian Bath, but there it is, hard by the graceful Pulteney Bridge designed by Robert Adam.
Robert Adam's design has been more or less preserved over the years through various alterations and restorations to the Pulteney Bridge since it was built in 1774. Below, as pictured by Thomas Malton in 1785.
The Weir was constructed in 1968-82 on the river Avon.
The far side of the bridge becomes Great Pulteney Street, lined with terraces of homes of Bath stone. Below is the view from the opposite end, in the Holburne Museum in Sydney Gardens.
Views, below, of Great Pulteney Street and the fountain at Laura Place. The fountain was an addition to the street in the late 19th century.
Below, an 1812 print of the Paragon. Jane Austen's aunt and uncle, Mr and Mrs. Leigh-Perrot (she of the supposedly stolen black lace), resided in The Paragon at #1 from 1797-1810.
The famous actress Sarah Siddons (1755-1831) lived in one of the houses in the Paragon, #33. She was born into the distinguished family of theatrical stars, the Kembles, and was particularly famed for her role as Lady Macbeth.
Sarah Siddons House 33, The Paragon
In the middle of The Paragon stands the Museum of Bath Architecture. It occupies the former Countess of Huntingdon Chapel. Lady Selina Hastings (1707-1791) built the chapel in 1765, one of the 64 Methodist chapels she created in Britain. The chapel, in Gothic revival style, is unusual in Bath. Lady Huntingdon, a friend of Horace Walpole, was a leader of evangelical and philanthropic causes.
The museum's displays all related to Bath's buildings, and provide text panels about their construction. Please click on the photos for larger versions.
What have I left out in my survey of Bath buildings? Why the baths, of course...coming soon.
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