Cavendish Crescent in Bath, Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

, is a Georgian

Georgian architecture

Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...

 crescent built in the early 19th century to a design by the architect John Pinch the elder. At 11 houses, it is the shortest of the seven Georgian crescents in Bath. It also has one of the plainest facade

Facade

A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....

s, with no central feature, the only decoration being the consoles

Corbel

In architecture a corbel is a piece of stone jutting out of a wall to carry any superincumbent weight. A piece of timber projecting in the same way was called a "tassel" or a "bragger". The technique of corbelling, where rows of corbels deeply keyed inside a wall support a projecting wall or...

 over the central first floor window of each house.

History

Cavendish crescent was undertaken by William Broom, a builder by trade. Broom leased the land on which the crescent is built and then engaged Pinch to design the facade. However all did not go according to Broom's plans and he went bankrupt in 1825. The crescent was finished some 5 years later.

Notable residents

Sir William Holburne lived at No. 10 between 1829 and 1874. The house was home to his art collection, which was later formed into the Holburne Museum of Art

Holburne Museum of Art

The Holburne Museum of Art is in Sydney Pleasure Gardens, Sydney Place, in the Bathwick area of Bath, Somerset, England.-History:...

, at the end of Great Pulteney Street

Great Pulteney Street

Great Pulteney Street is a grand thoroughfare that connects Bathwick on the east of the River Avon with the City of Bath, England via the Robert Adam designed Pulteney Bridge...

.