Lansdown Crescent | |
---|---|
General information | |
Architectural style | Georgian |
Town or city | Bath |
Country | England |
Construction started | 1789 |
Completed | 1793 |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | John Palmer |
Lansdown Crescent is a well-known example of Georgian architecture in Bath, Somerset, England, designed by John Palmer and constructed by a variety of builders between 1789 and 1793. The buildings have a clear view over central Bath, being sited on Lansdown Hill near to, but higher than, other well-known Georgian buildings including the Royal Crescent, St James's Square, Bath and The Circus, Bath. It forms the central part of a string of curved terraces, including Lansdown Place East and West, and Somerset Place, which were the northernmost boundary of the development of Georgian Bath.
The crescent was laid out by John Palmer who ensured that the three-storey fronts of the buildings were of uniform height and had matching doors and windows. The attic rooms are under a parapet and slate mansard roof. Other builders were then able to construct the houses behind the facade. The commission was from Charles Spackman, leading to the original name of the terrace being Spackman's Buildings. [1]
During World War I the crescent was frequently painted by the artist Walter Sickert. [2]
An unexploded bomb which had been dropped during the Bath Blitz of World War II was discovered in 2016, which required evacuation of the residents while it was made safe and then safely removed. [3] [4] In 2016 decorative finials from the railings in front of the houses, which had been removed and melted down during World War II were replaced after public fundraising. [5]
The grass in front of the crescent is sometimes used to graze sheep. [6]
The crescent, which is a grade I listed building, [7] comprises 20 houses, each originally having four floors together with a basement and sub-basement levels below ground. Servants did not sleep in the basements. It is arranged as a concave crescent, and is flanked by Lansdown Place West and Lansdown Place East, both convex crescents and grade II listed buildings in their own right.
The two central houses, numbers 10 and 11, have a paired entrance with four Tuscan columns with a cornice and frieze above them. The central point between the windows of the first floor has a blind niche. [8]
There is also an archway connecting 20, Lansdown Crescent and 1, Lansdown Place West, which is a Grade I listed structure, and which is thought to date from the time that William Beckford owned both properties. [9] Beckford bought a house in The 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. [10]
Bath is a city in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 94,092. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, 97 miles (156 km) west of London and 11 miles (18 km) southeast of Bristol. The city became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987, and was later added to the transnational World Heritage Site known as the "Great Spa Towns of Europe" in 2021. Bath is also the largest city and settlement in Somerset.
William Thomas Beckford was an English novelist, art critic, planter and politician. He was reputed at one stage to be England's richest commoner. The son of William Beckford and Maria Hamilton, daughter of the Hon. George Hamilton, he served as a Member of Parliament for Wells in 1784–1790 and Hindon in 1790–1795 and 1806–1820. Beckford is best known for writing the 1786 Gothic novel Vathek, for building the Fonthill Abbey in Wiltshire and Beckford's Tower in Bath, and for his extensive art collection.
The Royal Crescent is a row of 30 terraced houses laid out in a sweeping crescent in the city of Bath, England. Designed by the architect John Wood, the Younger, and built between 1767 and 1774, it is among the greatest examples of Georgian architecture to be found in the United Kingdom and is a Grade I listed building. Although some changes have been made to the various interiors over the years, the Georgian stone facade remains much as it was when first built.
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Lansdown is a suburb of the World Heritage City of Bath, England, that extends northwards from the city centre up a road of the same name. Among its most distinctive architectural features are Lansdown Crescent and Sion Hill Place, which includes a campus of Bath Spa University.
Beckford's Tower, originally known as Lansdown Tower, is an architectural folly built in neo-classical style on Lansdown Hill, just outside Bath, Somerset, England. The tower and its attached railings are designated as a Grade I listed building. Along with the adjoining Lansdown Cemetery it is Grade II listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of special historic interest in England.
John Palmer was an English architect who worked on some of the notable buildings in the city of Bath, Somerset, UK. He succeeded Thomas Baldwin as City Architect in 1792. He died in Bath.
There are 212 Grade II* listed buildings in Bristol, England.
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The Bath Preservation Trust is a charity that is based in Bath, Somerset, England, which exists to safeguard for the public benefit the historic character and amenities of the city, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and its environs. BPT is independent, funded by public membership, grants, donations and income from four museums that it operates in Bath: No. 1 Royal Crescent, the Museum of Bath Architecture, Beckford's Tower, and the Herschel Museum of Astronomy.
Queen Square is a square of Georgian houses in the city of Bath, England. Queen Square is the first element in "the most important architectural sequence in Bath", which includes the Circus and the Royal Crescent. All of the buildings which make up the square are Grade I listed.
Bath and North East Somerset is a unitary authority created on 1 April 1996, following the abolition of the County of Avon, which had existed since 1974. Part of the ceremonial county of Somerset, Bath and North East Somerset occupies an area of 220 square miles (570 km2), two-thirds of which is green belt. It stretches from the outskirts of Bristol, south into the Mendip Hills and east to the southern Cotswold Hills and Wiltshire border. The city of Bath is the principal settlement in the district, but BANES also covers Keynsham, Midsomer Norton, Radstock and the Chew Valley. The area has a population of 170,000, about half of whom live in Bath, making it 12 times more densely populated than the rest of the area.
Camden Crescent in Bath, Somerset, England, was built by John Eveleigh in 1788; it was originally known as Upper Camden Place. Numbers 6 to 21 have been designated as a Grade I listed buildings. The other houses are Grade II listed.
Norfolk Crescent in Bath, Somerset, England was built between c.1793 and c.1822 and has been designated as a Grade II* listed building. The original design was by John Palmer, but minor alterations were later made by John Pinch.
The buildings and architecture of Bath, a city in Somerset in the south west of England, reveal significant examples of the architecture of England, from the Roman Baths, to the present day. The city became a World Heritage Site in 1987, largely because of its architectural history and the way in which the city landscape draws together public and private buildings and spaces. The many examples of Palladian architecture are purposefully integrated with the urban spaces to provide "picturesque aestheticism". In 2021, the city was added to a second World Heritage Site, a group of historic spa towns across Europe known as the "Great Spas of Europe". Bath is the only entire city in Britain to achieve World Heritage status, and is a popular tourist destination.
The Anglican Bath Abbey Cemetery, officially dedicated as the Cemetery of St Peter and St Paul, was laid out by noted cemetery designer and landscape architect John Claudius Loudon (1783–1843) between 1843 and 1844 on a picturesque hillside site overlooking Bath, Somerset, England.
The Crescent is a street in Taunton, a town in the English county of Somerset. Construction began in 1807, during a period of extensive redevelopment in the town, driven by the Market House Society and the Member of Parliament Sir Benjamin Hammet. Lined on the eastern side by a Georgian terrace, the street follows a shallow crescent shape, broken in the middle by Crescent Way and a bit further south by St George's Place. It links Upper High Street, at its southern end, with Park Street and Tower Street to the north. On the western side, Somerset County Council have their offices in the County Hall, erected in 1935, and extended in the 1960s. The Georgian terrace, the Masonic Hall, and the County Hall are recorded in the National Heritage List for England as listed buildings.
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The Sydney Gardens Tunnels are two canal tunnels on the Kennet and Avon Canal in Bath, UK. The No. 1 Tunnel brings the canal into Sydney Gardens from the south and the No. 2 Tunnel exits the gardens to the north. Both tunnels are Grade II* listed, and are two of three on the waterway—the third being the Bruce Tunnel in Wiltshire.