1A Lansdown Crescent, Lansdown, Bath

1 Lansdown Crescent forms part of the Grade I late 18th century crescent terrace of townhouses by John Palmer, situated within the Bath conservation area and World Heritage Site. Lansdown Crescent is one of Bath’s formative examples of monumental Georgian design and town planning in its scale, implementation of Palladian architectural principles, coherent use of material vernacular, and picturesque setting. Consequently, it strongly contributes towards the Georgian town planning and architectural OUV of the World Heritage Site, and forms an important aspect of a highly significant ensemble of formal Georgian townhouses to the north of the city centre.

The focus of proposed works is the secondary access and steps onto the pavement, which is indicated to have been in situ by the 1870s at the latest. The Heritage Statement indicates that this formed a later Victorian service access, subsidiary to the principal entrance to the building which is demarcated by a stone porch in the Classical style.

The proposed boxing in works to create a new stepped access to the pavement is considered to acceptable where this would address access issues and retain the original steps in situ. We recommend the provision of further details regarding the proposed material finish, including any relevant samples, to the case officer to ensure the overall appearance and material of the replacement steps are in keeping with the special interest of the listed building. It appears that the existing steps would be retained within a void below the new steps, but it would be helpful, for the assessment of heritage impact to clarify if there would be any structural interaction between the historic and new steps.