Editing Bath, Somerset (section)

==Architecture==
{{Main|Buildings and architecture of Bath}}
There are many Roman [[archaeological]] sites throughout the central area of the city. The [[Roman Baths (Bath)|baths]] themselves are about {{convert|6|m|ft}} below the present city street level. Around the hot springs, Roman foundations, pillar bases, and baths can still be seen; however, all the [[stonework]] above the level of the baths is from more recent periods.<ref name="appx3">{{cite web |url=http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/worldheritage/3Append.htm |title=City of Bath World Heritage Site Management Plan&nbsp;– Appendix 3 |work=Bath and North East Somerset Council |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070804014112/http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/worldheritage/3Append.htm |archive-date=4 August 2007 |access-date=2 May 2015 }}</ref>

Bath Abbey was a [[Norman architecture|Norman]] church built on earlier foundations. The present building dates from the early 16th century and shows a [[Perpendicular Gothic|late Perpendicular]] style with [[flying buttress]]es and [[crocket]]ed [[pinnacle]]s decorating a [[crenellated]] and pierced [[parapet]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Bath Abbey |work=Images of England |publisher=Historic England |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442109 |access-date=4 May 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150428135539/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442109 |archive-date=28 April 2015 }}</ref> The choir and transepts have a [[fan vault]] by [[Robert Vertue|Robert]] and [[William Vertue]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.buildinghistory.org/bath/abbey/vertue.shtml |title=A Building of Vertue |work=Bath Past |access-date=2 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090510081753/http://www.buildinghistory.org/bath/abbey/vertue.shtml |archive-date=10 May 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref> A matching vault was added to the nave in the 19th century.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.planetware.com/bath/bath-abbey-eng-av-baabb.htm |title=Bath Abbey |access-date=9 December 2007 |work=Planet Ware |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012195250/http://www.planetware.com/bath/bath-abbey-eng-av-baabb.htm |archive-date=12 October 2007 |url-status=live }}</ref> The building is lit by 52 windows.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sacred-destinations.com/england/bath-abbey |title=Bath Abbey |access-date=27 September 2007 |work=Sacred destinations |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091018141230/http://www.sacred-destinations.com/england/bath-abbey |archive-date=18 October 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:bath abbey from the east arp.jpg|thumb|alt=Ornate yellow stone building with tower, partially obscured by trees.|left|[[Bath Abbey]] seen from the east]]
Most buildings in Bath are made from the local, golden-coloured Bath stone,<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Bath-England |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Britannica |title=Bath, England |access-date=24 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402182714/https://www.britannica.com/place/Bath-England |archive-date=2 April 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> and many date from the 18th and 19th century. The dominant style of architecture in Central Bath is Georgian;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.essential-architecture.com/STYLE/STY-E02.htm |title=Georgian architecture |access-date=12 December 2007 |work=Essential Architecture.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071113112203/http://www.essential-architecture.com/STYLE/STY-E02.htm |archive-date=13 November 2007 |url-status=usurped }}</ref> this style evolved from the [[Palladian]] revival style that became popular in the early 18th century. Many of the prominent architects of the day were employed in the development of the city. The original purpose of much of Bath's architecture is concealed by the honey-coloured classical façades; in an era before the advent of the luxury hotel, these apparently elegant residences were frequently purpose-built lodging houses, where visitors could hire a room, a floor, or (according to their means) an entire house for the duration of their visit, and be waited on by the house's communal [[servants]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=Social Decline and Slum Conditions: Irish migrants in Bath's History |last=David |first=Graham |year=2000 |journal=Bath History Vol VIII |publisher=[[Bath Spa University]] |pages=134–147 }}</ref> The masons [[Reeves of Bath]] were prominent in the city from the 1770s to 1860s.<ref>{{cite web |title=St Mary's Churchyard |url=http://bathwickparishes.org/stmarys/ |publisher=Friends of St Mary's Churchyard |access-date=26 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130630124706/http://bathwickparishes.org/stmarys/ |archive-date=30 June 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Circus consists of three long, curved terraces designed by the elder John Wood to form a circular space or theatre intended for civic functions and games. The games give a clue to the design, the inspiration behind which was the [[Colosseum]] in Rome.<ref name="gadd">{{cite book |last1=Gadd |first1=David |title=Georgian Summer: Rise and Development of Bath |date=1987 |publisher=Countryside Books |isbn=978-0905392608 |edition=2 |page=50 }}</ref> Like the Colosseum, the three façades have a different order of architecture on each floor: [[Doric order|Doric]] on the ground level, then [[Ionic order|Ionic]] on the [[piano nobile]], and finishing with [[Corinthian order|Corinthian]] on the upper floor, the style of the building thus becoming progressively more ornate as it rises.<ref name="gadd"/> Wood never lived to see his unique example of town planning completed as he died five days after personally laying the foundation stone on 18 May 1754.<ref name="gadd"/>
[[File:Bath Abbey Nave Fan Vaulting, Somerset, UK - Diliff.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Fan vault]]ing over the [[nave]] at Bath Abbey]]
The most spectacular of Bath's terraces is the Royal Crescent, built between 1767 and 1774 and designed by the younger John Wood.<ref>{{cite web |title=Royal Crescent |work=Images of England |publisher=Historic England |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=447275 |access-date=2 May 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071219035854/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=447275 |archive-date=19 December 2007 }}</ref> Wood designed the great curved façade of what appears to be about 30 houses with Ionic [[column]]s on a rusticated ground floor, but that was the extent of his input: each purchaser bought a certain length of the façade, and then employed their own architect to build a house to their own specifications behind it; hence what appears to be two houses is in some cases just one. This system of town planning is betrayed at the rear of the crescent: while the front is completely uniform and symmetrical, the rear is a mixture of differing roof heights, juxtapositions and fenestration. The "Queen Anne fronts and Mary-Anne backs" architecture occurs repeatedly in Bath and was designed to keep hired women at the back of the house.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Gogarty |first1=Paul |title=Bath: Georgian on my mind |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/722542/Bath-Georgian-on-my-mind.html |access-date=4 April 2017 |work=Telegraph |date=1 July 2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170404220410/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/722542/Bath-Georgian-on-my-mind.html |archive-date=4 April 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Forsyth |first1=Michael |title=Pevsner Architectural Guides: Bath |date=2003 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0300101775 |page=148 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Subjects and Citizens: Nation, Race, and Gender from Oroonoko to Anita Hill |last1=Moon |first1=Michael |first2=Cathy N. |last2=Davidson |year=1995 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=978-0-8223-1539-1 |page=405 }}</ref> Other fine terraces elsewhere in the city include Lansdown Crescent<ref>{{cite web |title=1 to 20 Lansdown Crescent |work=Images of England |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=442760 |publisher=Historic England |access-date=2 May 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150502233639/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442760 |archive-date=2 May 2015 }}</ref> and [[Somerset Place, Bath|Somerset Place]] on the northern hill.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443615 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018004620/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=443615 |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 October 2012 |title=Nos 5–20, Somerset Place, Bath |work=Images of England |publisher=Historic England |access-date=10 January 2009 }}</ref>

Around 1770 the [[neoclassicism|neoclassical]] architect [[Robert Adam]] designed [[Pulteney Bridge]], using as the prototype for the three-arched bridge spanning the Avon an original, but unused, design by [[Andrea Palladio]] for the [[Rialto Bridge]] in Venice.<ref name="pultney">{{cite journal |last=Manco |first=Jean |year=1995 |title=Pulteney Bridge |journal=[[Architectural History (journal)|Architectural History]] |volume=38 |pages=129–145 |doi=10.2307/1568625 |jstor=1568625 |publisher=SAHGB Publications Limited |s2cid=246044781 }}</ref> Thus, Pulteney Bridge became not just a means of crossing the river, but also a shopping arcade. Along with the Rialto Bridge and the [[Ponte Vecchio]] in [[Florence]], which it resembles, it is one of the very few surviving bridges in Europe to serve this dual purpose.<ref name="pultney"/> It has been substantially altered since it was built. The bridge was named after Frances and [[Sir William Pulteney, 5th Baronet|William Pulteney]], the owners of the Bathwick estate for which the bridge provided a link to the rest of Bath.<ref name="pultney"/> 
The Georgian streets in the vicinity of the river tended to be built high above the original ground level to avoid flooding, with the carriageways supported on vaults extending in front of the houses. This can be seen in the multi-storey cellars around Laura Place south of Pulteney Bridge, in the colonnades below Grand Parade, and in the grated coal holes in the pavement of North Parade. In some parts of the city, such as George Street, and London Road near Cleveland Bridge, the developers of the opposite side of the road did not match this pattern, leaving raised pavements with the ends of the vaults exposed to a lower street below.

The heart of the Georgian city was the Pump Room, which, together with its associated Lower Assembly Rooms, was designed by [[Thomas Baldwin (architect)|Thomas Baldwin]], a local builder responsible for many other buildings in the city, including the terraces in Argyle Street<ref>{{cite book |title=A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600–1840 |last=Colvin |first=Howard |author-link=Howard Colvin |isbn=978-0-300-07207-5 |year=1997 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |edition=3rd |page=97 }}</ref> and the [[Guildhall, Bath|Guildhall]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442118 |title=Guildhall |work=Images of England |publisher=Historic England |access-date=25 July 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120531182450/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442118 |archive-date=31 May 2012 }}</ref> Baldwin rose rapidly, becoming a leader in Bath's architectural history.

In 1776, he was made the chief [[Bath City Surveyor|City Surveyor]], and [[Bath City Architect]].<ref>{{cite book |title=A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600–1840 |last=Colvin |first=Howard |author-link=Howard Colvin |isbn=978-0-300-07207-5 |year=1997 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |edition=3rd |page=96 }}</ref> [[Great Pulteney Street]], where he eventually lived, is another of his works: this wide [[boulevard]], constructed around 1789 and over {{convert|1000|ft|m|0}} long and {{convert|100|ft|m|0}} wide, is lined on both sides by Georgian terraces.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442581 |title=Nos 1 to 7 (consec), Nos 8 to 10 (consec), 10A, ll to 20 (consec), No 21, Nos 22 to 3O (consec), Nos 31 to 34 (consec), Nos 35 & 36, No 37 and Nos 38 to 40 (consec) Great Pulteney Street |work=Images of England |publisher=Historic England |access-date=19 July 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101006184816/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442581 |archive-date=6 October 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442583 |title=No 41A Nos 42 to 77 Great Pulteney Street |work=Images of England |publisher=Historic England |access-date=19 July 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101006233335/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442583 |archive-date=6 October 2010 }}</ref>

In the 1960s and early 1970s some parts of Bath were unsympathetically redeveloped, resulting in the loss of some 18th- and 19th-century buildings. This process was largely halted by a popular campaign which drew strength from the publication of Adam Fergusson's ''The Sack of Bath''.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Image of Georgian Bath, 1700–2000: Towns, Heritage, and History |last=Borsay |first=Peter |year=2000 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-820265-3 |page=191 }}</ref> Controversy has revived periodically, most recently with the demolition of the 1930s Churchill House, a neo-Georgian municipal building originally housing the Electricity Board, to make way for a new [[Bath bus station|bus station]]. This is part of the Southgate redevelopment in which an ill-favoured 1960s shopping precinct, bus station and multi-storey car park were demolished and replaced by a new area of [[mock-Georgian|neo-Georgian]] shopping streets.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.southgatebath.com/ |title=SouthGate Official Website |access-date=1 November 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081026101629/http://www.southgatebath.com/ |archive-date=26 October 2008 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bathheritagewatchdog.org/churchill.htm |title=Bath Heritage Watchdog |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007122032/http://www.bathheritagewatchdog.org/churchill.htm |archive-date=7 October 2008 |url-status=live |access-date=2 May 2015 }}</ref>

As a result of this and other changes, notably plans for abandoned industrial land along the Avon, the city's status as a World Heritage Site was reviewed by UNESCO in 2009.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/apr/06/bath-heritage-architecture |title=Will Bath lose its World Heritage status? |last=Glancey |first=Jonathan |date=6 April 2009 |work=The Guardian |location=UK |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090409064044/http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/apr/06/bath-heritage-architecture |archive-date=9 April 2009 |url-status=live |access-date=2 May 2015 }}</ref> The decision was made to let Bath keep its status, but UNESCO asked to be consulted on future phases of the Riverside development,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/8119528.stm |title=Bath keeps world heritage status |date=25 June 2009 |work=BBC News |access-date=13 September 2009 |archive-date=23 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210123225453/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/somerset/8119528.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> saying that the density and volume of buildings in the second and third phases of the development need to be reconsidered.<ref name=bptjune09>{{cite web |url=http://www.bath-preservation-trust.org.uk/index.php?s=file_download&id=118 |format=PDF |title=UNESCO demand for enhanced protection of Bath's surrounding landscape 'urgent and timely', says Bath Preservation Trust |publisher=[[Bath Preservation Trust]] |date=25 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090830190103/http://www.bath-preservation-trust.org.uk/index.php?s=file_download&id=118 |archive-date=30 August 2009 |url-status=live |access-date=2 May 2015 }}</ref> It also demanded Bath do more to attract world-class architecture in new developments.<ref name=bptjune09/>

In 2021, Bath received its second UNESCO World Heritage inscription, becoming part of a group of 11 spa towns across seven countries that were listed by UNESCO as the "[[Great Spas of Europe]]".<ref name="DPA-whs">{{cite news |url=https://www.dpa-international.com/topic/great-spas-europe-awarded-unesco-world-heritage-status-urn%3Anewsml%3Adpa.com%3A20090101%3A210724-99-511232 |title='Great Spas of Europe' awarded UNESCO World Heritage status |first=Andreas |last=Landwehr |work=Deutsche Presse-Agentur |date=24 July 2021 |access-date=25 July 2021 |archive-date=25 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210725045739/https://www.dpa-international.com/topic/great-spas-europe-awarded-unesco-world-heritage-status-urn%3Anewsml%3Adpa.com%3A20090101%3A210724-99-511232 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
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{{wide image|Royal Crescent in Bath, England - July 2006.jpg|1000px|alt=Wide image of a symmetrical semicircular terrace of yellow stone buildings. Grass in the foreground.|Panoramic view of the [[Royal Crescent]]}}