Bath Abbey

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 (including their significant Celtic presence), 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. Important buildings include the Roman Baths; neoclassical architect Robert Adam's Pulteney Bridge, based on an unused design for the Rialto Bridge in Venice; and Bath Abbey in the city centre, founded in 1499 on the site of an 8th-century church. Of equal importance are the residential buildings designed and built into boulevards and crescents by the Georgian architects John Wood, the Elder and his son John Wood, the Younger – well-known examples being the Royal Crescent, built around 1770, and The Circus, built around 1760, where each of the three curved segments faces one of the entrances, ensuring that there is always a classical facade facing the entering visitor. Most of Bath's buildings are made from the local, golden-coloured, Bath Stone. The dominant architectural style is Georgian, which evolved from the Palladian revival style that became popular in the early 18th century. The city became a fashionable and popular spa and social centre during the 18th century. Based initially around its hot springs, this led to a demand for substantial homes and guest houses. The key architects, John Wood and his son, laid out many of the city's present-day squares and crescents within a green valley and the surrounding hills. According to UNESCO this provided... "an integration of architecture, urban design, and landscape setting, and the deliberate creation of a beautiful city". Development during modern eras, including the development of the transport infrastructure and rebuilding after bomb damage during World War II, has mostly been in keeping with earlier styles to maintain the integrated cityscape.

Guildhall is an 18th-century municipal building in central Bath, Somerset, England. It is a Grade I listed building.

The Grand Pump Room is a historic building in the Abbey Churchyard, Bath, Somerset, England. It is adjacent to the Roman Baths and is named for water that is pumped into the room from the baths' hot springs. Visitors can drink the water or have other refreshments while there. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building since 1950. Along with the Lower Assembly Rooms, it formed a complex where social activity was centred, and where visitors to the city gathered.

Marshal Wade's House at 14 Abbey Church Yard, Bath, Somerset, England was built around 1700 and has been designated as a Grade I listed building.The building was originally attributed to Lord Burlington and thought to have been built in 1730, however it is now thought to have been an earlier construction, for George Wade who was a Field Marshal and served as a British military commander and Commander-in-Chief of the Forces, as well as Member of Parliament for Bath from 1722 to 1747. The Palladian nature of the architecture is emphasised by the 5 fluted Ionic pilasters on the first and second floors. Furthermore, the building uses standard Georgian period sash windows with multiple panes and a moulded cornice. The construction was inspired by Inigo Jones' house in Covent Garden, London.The shop on the ground floor was an early 19th-century development which is now occupied by the National Trust. The ground floor was converted to retail use and has a Regency era shopfront which includes an elaborate fascia and delicate Regency trimmings.The house was acquired by the Landmark Trust in 1975 who have carried out various renovation work and now let out the property. The ground floor is currently in retail use and is open to the public. However, the upper levels offer no public access.

Ralph Allen's Town House is a grade I listed townhouse in Bath, Somerset, England. Ralph Allen commenced building it in or shortly after 1727, although it is unlikely he ever lived there. At the time Allen was living in Lilliput Alley, in a house of some 15 rooms, then known as "Lease 7 on the Kingston rental (Countess of Kingston on Hull)", which is now 1 and 2 North Parade Passage. In 1745, Allen moved to Prior Park. His brother Phillip took over the Kingston Lease and continued to run the Postal business.Opinion is divided as to whether John Wood the Elder designed the "Town House", however the ostentatious decoration is not a style he uses elsewhere in Bath. Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, has also been suggested as the architect. The enhanced decoration with rustication, Corinthian pillars and decorated pediment may have been incorporated purely to demonstrate the fine carving qualities of Bath Stone.John Wood the Elder, in his 1742 writing in his Essay towards the future of Bath he says: While Mr. Allen was making the Addition to the North Part of his House in Lilliput Alley he new fronted and raised the old Building a full Story higher; it consists of a Basement Story sustaining a double Story under the Crowning; and this is surmounted by an Attick, which created a sixth Rate House, and a Sample for the greatest Magnificence that was ever proposed by me for our City Houses. Because of the modern use of "magnificent" it is often thought that in this passage Wood is referring to the Town House. But elsewhere in his Essay, Wood explains that his use of magnificence refers to size. He refers to decoration as "ornament" or "dress". A closer examination of Wood's words and the number of floors in the Town House reveal that he was not referring to this building. A 6th rate house is the largest in Wood's list. The Town House does not comply with his description. Wood was talking about the House in Lilliput Alley where Allen was then living.

The Roman Baths are well-preserved thermae in the city of Bath, Somerset, England. A temple was constructed on the site between 60 and 70 AD in the first few decades of Roman Britain. Its presence led to the development of the small Roman urban settlement known as Aquae Sulis around the site. The Roman baths—designed for public bathing—were used until the end of Roman rule in Britain in the 5th century AD. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the original Roman baths were in ruins a century later. The area around the natural springs was redeveloped several times during the Early and Late Middle Ages. The Roman Baths are preserved in four main features: the Sacred Spring, the Roman Temple, the Roman Bath House, and a museum which holds artefacts from Aquae Sulis. However, all buildings at street level date from the 19th century. It is a major tourist attraction in the UK, and together with the Grand Pump Room, receives more than 1.3 million visitors annually. Visitors can tour the baths and museum but cannot enter the water.

The Corridor is one of the world's earliest retail arcades, designed by architect Henry Goodridge and built in 1825, in Bath, Somerset, England. The fashion for arranging shops in arcades arose in Paris in the late 18th Century. The Corridor followed the trend set by London's Burlington Arcade. The Grade II listed arcade has a glass roof. The High Street end has a Doric colonnade. Each end has marble columns.A musicians gallery, with a wrought iron balustrade and gilt lions heads and garlands, is in the centre of the arcade.Number 7 was the photographic studio of William Friese-Greene.

The Old Police Station is a Grade II listed building in Bath, Somerset, England. Completed in 1865, to a design by Charles Edward Davis, it stands in Orange Grove, adjacent (to the southwest) to Bath's Empire Hotel, although it pre-dates that building by around fifty years. The police station opened on 19 January 1866. A 19th-century archway connecting the building to the rear of the adjacent (to the southwest) Guildhall, in which the police station was formerly located, is also listed. The building, which contains a garage for one fire engine, is two storeys high and three bays wide. It became disused when the police station moved to Manvers Street in the 1970s. It became a restaurant in 1998. Today, the building is the home of Browns Bar & Brasserie.

Orange Grove is a park in Bath, Somerset, England. Situated on a roundabout, the park occupies the former churchyard of Bath Priory. Orange Grove became a public space on 1572 and was landscaped around 200 years later. Today, it is home to Alkmaar Garden, which was established after World War II to honour the link between the cities of Bath and Alkmaar in the Netherlands. In the centre of the park is an obelisk commemorating the Prince of Orange's visit to Bath in 1734. It was erected by Beau Nash. Orange Grove is also the name of the street bounding the park immediately to the north, on which stands the Old Police Station and the Empire Hotel.

The Victoria Art Gallery is a public art museum in Bath, Somerset, England. It was opened in 1900 to commemorate Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee. It is a Grade II* listed building and houses over 1,500 objects of art including a collection of oil paintings from British artists dating from 1700 onwards. The ground floor was at one time a public library.

Cheap Street in Bath, Somerset, England is adjacent to Bath Abbey and contains several listed buildings. The road was known as Souter Street (meaning Shoemakers Street) until 1398.Number 13 which adjoins the abbey and is Grade II* listed.Number 14 was built around 1720. The central doorway is flanked on either side by pairs of windows with elliptical arches and Doric pilasters. There are also four Ionic pilasters and a central pediment on the 1st floor above the doorway and four Corinthian pilasters on the floor above that. It is adjacent to Marshal Wade's House in the Abbey Church Yard, and has been designated as a Grade I listed building.Number 15 to 19 were built as a block, including shop fronts divided by Doric columns, by Thomas Baldwin around 1789.Number 21 and The Roundhouse, which used to be known as the Abbey Wine Vaults, is a mid to late 19th century radiused round corner of Cheap Street and Stall Street.

The Empire Hotel in Bath, Somerset, England was built in 1901 and has been designated as a Grade II listed building. It is situated on Orange Grove close to both Bath Abbey and Pulteney Bridge. It was designed by the Bath City Architect Major Charles Edward Davis for the hotelier Alfred Holland and built from Bath Stone, on the site of the Athenaeum. It was described by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as a ‘monstrosity and an unbelievable piece of pompous architecture’.The building occupies a large L-shaped block. It is six storeys high plus the octagonal corner tower. The front of the building onto Orange Grove has eight bays and the side overlooking the River Avon has nine bays.The architecture of the roof shows the three classes of people, a castle on the corner for upper class, a house for the middle classes and a cottage for the lower classes.During World War II it was used by the Admiralty as a postal sorting office and remained in their possession until the 1990s. In 1996 it was then refurbished and became apartments and a restaurant.