Georgian 1700s-1830s
Bath comprises many many Georgian Houses. This relates not only to when they were built, but their distinctive style.
Most residents will recognise the typical characteristics of:
- cream-coloured Bath Stone, often as ‘ashlar’ [smoothly sawn]
- vertical [portrait] windows, usually sash-style
- classical proportions, often with parapet walls
- internal and external ornament
- original roofs normally slate
Victorian+Edwardian 1840s-1910s
Widcombe expanded considerably in this era, and house styles developed towards:
- ashlar Bath Stone often replaced with brick or coursed stone
- vertical [portrait] windows, often sash-style remain, with addition of casements
- proportions become lower and wider
- internal and external ornament continues, but often in a less classical style
- roofs continue to use slate, but some use clay tiles
1920s+1930s
House building following WW1 changed significantly:
- cheaper materials used for ‘homes fit for heroes’
- brick or block and render generally replaced stone, and cavity walls became common
- portrait-shaped sash windows, generally became horizontal casement-type
- classical proportions disappeared, along with much internal and external ornament
- this is often characterised as the era of the ‘3-bed semi’
1940s-1960s
Following World War Two, another period of house-building expansion ensued, although less in Widcombe than elsewhere. The West Widcombe Calton Gardens / Holloway estate [illustrated] was designed in this period, demolishing 18th- and 19th-century houses thought to be substandard, though built in the early ’70’s. These houses were typically:
- of brick or block cavity wall construction
- with tiled roofs
- generally smaller and more uniform, wider [landscape] casement windows
- 2 storey – terraced, semi-detached or detached
- devoid of much internal and external ornament
1970s+Later
From the 1970s onwards, houses became slowly more energy efficient, in response to global energy crises and increasing awareness of climate change. Few archetypical houses were built in the conservation area in this period, and our illustration shows a more ‘repro’ approach to windows, wall cladding, etc. Built style develops more slowly, with:
- brick, block or stone-faced walls – with cavities
- tiled roofs
- generally uniform casement windows, although ‘repro’ sashes are used too2 storey – terraced, semi- or detached
- stripped of internal and external ornament, in a more ‘modernist’ style
