1 North Parade Passage, Bath, Bath and North East Somerset

Summary

A town house dating to 1718, possibly of earlier origins, altered in 1727 when it formed part of Ralph Allen's town house attributed to John Wood the Elder, and further altered in the late C18, C19 and C20.

Description

A town house dating back to 1718, but possibly of earlier origins, altered in 1727 when it formed part of Ralph Allen's town house attributed to John Wood the Elder, and further altered in the late C18, C19 and C20.

MATERIALS: Limestone ashlar, rendered and painted to ground floor, roof not visible. Narrow frontage.

PLAN: Double depth plan.

EXTERIOR: Three storeys, with cellars and full height attic, two windows. Ground floor has late C19 plate glass sash, and plain recessed doorway with panelled door. First and second floors have similar sashes, attic has six over six sashes of late C18 type. Rusticated giant pilaster to left, first floor sill band, cornice, parapet, roof not visible. Lead hopper-head and down-pipe to the right. This elevation forms an architectural entity with 2 North Parade Passage (Grade II*).

INTERIOR: Not inspected.

History

1 North Parade Passage formed part of Ralph Allen's town house in Bath. It included the current 2 North Parade Passage (Grade II*), with which it forms an architectural entity, and what is now called the Ralph Allen Town House (Grade I), accessed via 7 York Street. North Parade Passage was formerly known as Lilliput Alley.

A building lease for a plot of land occupied by the current 1 and 2 North Parade Passage (John Hall to Thomas Cotterell), dates back to 11 January 1620 (Holland, 2007). In 1718 the Countess of Kingston granted a lease of the Post House on Lilliput Alley, comprising the current 1 and 2 North Parade Passage. Ralph Allen was a subtenant from 1718, but in 1727 the lease was assigned to him.

Ralph Allen (1693-1764) came to Bath in c1710-12, where between 1719 and 1748 he served as its Post Master, running his business from the Post House. With the wealth gained from the successful postal reforms he introduced, he acquired land around Bath and established the famous Bath stone quarries. He frequently commissioned the architect John Wood the Elder (1704-1754).

In 1727 Ralph Allen commissioned John Wood the Elder to alter it. In 1742, Wood states in 'An Essay towards a Description of the City of Bath', that 'Whilst 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'.

There is debate amongst historians as to which part(s) of Ralph Allen's house this refers to, some claiming that it entirely refers to the building comprising 1 and 2 North Parade Passage (Holland, 2007) rather than what is now called the Ralph Allen Town House, widely attributed to Wood (Mowl and Earnshaw, 1988).

It is uncertain how 1 and 2 North Parade Passage and the Ralph Allen Town House historically related to each other in the early C18, and how the building was used by Ralph Allen at that time. It has been suggested that Ralph Allen used his house as 'a prestige project, a business base as well as a home' and that it was designed to be a showcase for a new fashion in architecture (Mowl & Earnshaw).

A pen and ink drawing of Ralph Allen's town house dated by Christies as C18 (sold at auction by them in 2011), and a very similar later view of 1855 by the artist Henry Venn Lansdown, shows it as a large U-shaped mansion surrounding a forecourt, with a central block with projecting bay (the current Ralph Allen Town House) and full height wings to either side (that to the S being the rear elevation of the current 2 North Parade Passage). The accuracy of these views has been questioned. Holland (2007) claims that the N wing on the opposite side was never built: she notes that the land on which it supposedly stood had been granted to Jelly and Fisher for development in 1762. Current stonework at the S corner of the Ralph Allen Town House and to the rear elevation of 2 North Parade Passage does suggest both these buildings were linked at some stage.

Ralph Allen continued to own the building on Lilliput Alley until his death in 1764. By 1766 it was occupied by the sculptor Prince Hoare (1711-1769) and between 1785 and 1790 by the silhouettist Jacob Sponberg.

As suggested by Cotterell's map of Bath of 1852, Ralph Allen's town house had by then been subdivided into three properties: 1 and 2 North Parade Passage and what is now called the Ralph Allen Town House. The three properties are also shown on the 1:500 Ordnance Survey Town Map for Bath published in 1886.

Reasons for Listing

1 North Parade Passage in Bath, a town house dating to 1718, possibly of earlier origins, altered in 1727 when it formed part of Ralph Allen's town house attributed to John Wood the Elder, and further altered in the late C18, C19 and C20, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: as a good example of an early C18 town house, possibly of earlier origins, displaying good quality architectural detailing;
* Historic interest: for its nationally important historic association with Ralph Allen and John Wood the Elder;
* Group value: for its strong group value with 2 North Parade Passage (Grade II*) and the Ralph Allen Town House (Grade I).

External Links

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