Street Record, Duke Street, City Centre, Bath

The proposed scope of works covers the following buildings within the Bath Conservation Area and World Heritage Site:

- 12A North Parade (or North Parade House), a Grade I mid-18th century terraced townhouse which formed part of John Wood the Elder’s unfinished plans for the development of the former Abbey Churchyard to create “The Royal Forum”. The incised street sign is located on the east elevation on the junction with Duke Street, marking a central through route between the two quadrangular blocks of development. In this location, the street sign retains traces of having previously been painted.

- 14 North Parade, a Grade I mid-18th century terraced townhouse also by John Wood the Elder, which forms part of the same speculative development as above. It is located on the eastern side of Duke Street, with an incised street sign across the principal elevation facing onto North Parade. In this location, the street sign retains traces of having previously been painted.

- 15 New Bond Street, one of a group of terraced Grade II early 19th century houses, now with commercial ground floors and shopfronts. In this location, the street sign has become somewhat obscured due to the overlay of white paint as part of the broader treatment to the building’s principal façade.

- 18-18A Upper Borough Walls, a pair of Grade II mid-18th century houses with shops at ground floor level and later 19th century shopfronts. The building features a mix of incised signage, including signage for Upper Borough Walls across the south elevation, Trim Bridge on the west elevation, as well as an incised sign denoting the extent of the parish boundary on the west elevation. A matching example of this is also present opposite at the Grade II Gascoyne House. The proposed focus of works is the signage present on the west elevation; whilst the signage remains in relatively good condition, this elevation features significant cracking indicative of previous (if not ongoing) masonry movement, with resulting impact to the retention of signage in this location.

- 1 St Michaels Place, a Grade II late 18th century quadrant-shaped house to the rear of Westgate Street. The incised street sign in this location is in good condition and retains its painted finish, but has lost part of its incised lettering (‘s) due to later stonework repairs to the adjacent window reveal.

- 1 Macaulay Buildings, one of a pair of Grade II early 19th century semi-detached villas. In this location, the original painted sign has degraded and been overlaid with a later sign.

In the interest of transparency, we highlight that BPT does financially contribute to the work of the World Heritage Enhancement Fund.

We consider that the proposed works would positively contribute to and enhance the appearance of a number of Grade I and Grade II listed buildings throughout the City, and as a result would cumulatively enhance the character and appearance of the Bath conservation area whilst conserving and better revealing an aspect of Bath’s Georgian streetscape and town planning OUV as a World Heritage site, and legibility of place. We feel this is a positive example of the improvement and conservation of one of Bath’s distinctive historic and aesthetic characteristics which defines its unique public realm.