Description

GROSVENOR PLACE
656-1/0/0 (South side)

Grosvenor Villa and attached wall to the left (Formerly Listed as: LONDON ROAD (South side) Grosvenor Lodge and Grosvenor Villa, Grosvenor Place)
11/08/72

GV II

End terrace house. c1833 with late C19 additions.
MATERIALS: Limestone ashlar, slate roof with two axial stacks to rear, and one to left of door.
PLAN: Three-unit plan.
EXTERIOR: Two storeys with large late C19 attic and semi-basement, five-window range. Balustraded parapet, returned to north and south elevations, with urns to piers at corners and flanking central segmentally curved full height bow, cornice and frieze, platband over banded rustication to ground floor, mostly six/six-pane sash windows, eight/eight-panes to those at centre of bow flanked by six/six-pane sashes. Paired pilasters and semicircular arch to former front door almost obscured by late C19 square plan porch with heavy balustraded parapet, clasping pilasters, moulded architrave with large keystone to four-panel door. North elevation on London Road has shallow first floor rectangular bay with cornice and blocking course, clasping pilasters, and panelled aprons. South elevation, rear, has two-window range. Balustrades to parapet have been removed between piers, first floor has bay similar to that at front over late C19 canted bay with plate glass sashes, cornice and moulded pilasters.
INTERIOR: Recorded by Bath Preservation Trust in 1993. Fine stone floor with small black coloured stone diamond insets. Front door now positioned in an entrance porch were probably moved from the space now occupied by double doors with stained glass lights. A window with eight fanned glass lights is above the double doors. Ceiling frieze of ram's skulls with deep relief with ribbons hanging from the horns linked by swags of fruit. Stone staircase framed by two round marble columns and two rectangular columns from the abbey altar piece. Pale grey marble columns with painted pedestals. Lintels above the two six-panelled doors on either side of the hall from sections of the frieze from the abbey altar. A semi-circular arch above the stairway. Two further columns stand either side of the doorway. The staircase has plain iron balusters with wooden decorated newels and mahogany handrail. A statue stands in a niche at the top of the stairs. Dining room has Taurus picture rail, with moulded Taurus edge round both alcoves beside fireplace. A service hatch for a dumb waiter still in working order, and mahogany butler's shelf.
HISTORY: The hall contains part of Samuel Tufnell's altar piece given to Bath Abbey by General Wade in 1725. It was removed from the abbey at the time of the 1833 restoration and the marble bought by the collector and art dealer Thomas Shew for his house, Grosvenor Villa, when it was being built. Mowbray Green states that it was noted in 1819 that the terrace was still unfinished. The 1833 Bath Directory gives the last number as 41. Grosvenor Villa is mentioned in a conveyance of 30 September 1837 as being conveyed to T. Shew. It seems certain that Grosvenor Lodge and Grosvenor Villa were built at the same time. Thomas Shew built the suspension bridge at the end of Grosvenor Bridge road. He was an artist of some repute. He is shown living at 41 Grosvenor Place in 1826 and at Grosvenor Lodge in 1837, presumably owning both houses. He may have overstretched himself because he committed suicide in 1839.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: Attached to left rough ashlar wall approx 2m high.

Listing NGR: ST7621366310

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26674909

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
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  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
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  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
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  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide