For the Romans, it was the genius loci – the protective ‘spirit of a place’ – that gave a building or location its distinctive character; nowhere is this elusive spirit more gracefully captured than in Roman Bath’s grand Georgian crescents and squares, where 12, Lansdown Place East is the latest example of a classic, 18th-century townhouse to come to the open market.
For sale through Strutt & Parker and Carter Jonas at a guide price of £1.75 million, Grade II-listed 12, Lansdown Place East is one of a landmark curved terrace of 16 houses on the northern slopes of Bath, linked to the Grade I-listed Lansdown Crescent, although designed on a less monumental scale and fronted by a paddock grazed in summer by sheep belonging to a local farmer.
Unlike many of Bath’s most famous houses, which have views either of the city or of the surrounding countryside, Lansdown Place East enjoys wonderful views both to the south over the city and to the north, over nearby villages and rolling open countryside.
Together with Lansdown Place East and its twin, Lansdown Place West, Lansdown Crescent was designed and built between 1789 and 1793 by the architect John Palmer, in partnership with the banker and builder John Lowder and businessman and art connoisseur Charles Spackman, who acted as agent for the supply of building materials.
Throughout its existence, 12, Lansdown Place East appears to have enjoyed the protection of its own genius loci. Not only did the house survive a Second World War bombing raid that destroyed Nos 4 to 9, which were later rebuilt, it also escaped the indiscriminate postwar ‘redevelopment’ suffered by many of Bath’s finest Georgian buildings.
In the 1950s, 12, Lansdown Place East was owned by Michael Briggs, a longstanding chairman of the Bath Preservation Trust, whose wife, Isabel Colegate, wrote numerous novels about life among the English upper classes, including The Shooting Party (1980), The Orlando Trilogy (1984) and Winter Journey (1995).
She shared her husband’s passion for historic buildings and, during their time at 12, Lansdown Place East, renovated its elegant internal space in classic Georgian style, before taking on the even greater challenge of restoring and improving romantic Grade I-listed Midford Castle on the outskirts of the city over a period of some 45 years, between 1961 and 2006.
During roughly the same period, the fortunes of 12, Lansdown Place East apparently took a turn for the worse. According to its current owner, James Whatmore, the house was ‘in poor condition’ when, in 2007, he bought it and embarked on a gradual scheme of improvements, which included a new roof, new hardwood sash windows, three new bathrooms and a new gas-fired central-heating system with two boilers.
Some of the decor from the Briggs era has been retained, but many original features, including fine ceiling cornices, Georgian doors and door locks, have been painstakingly sourced and fitted to compliment the original joinery, stone and wood floors and fireplaces.
The building’s 4,802sq ft of living space is arranged over five floors, with the kitchen and dining room on the ground floor providing access to the pretty rear garden. The first floor houses the drawing room and a bedroom, with four further bedrooms on the second and third floors. The lower-ground floor is a large versatile space, leading to a vault and a wine cellar below.
For sale through Strutt & Parker and Carter Jonas at a guide price of £1.75 million – see more details and pictures.
Credit: Savills
A fairytale castle in Wiltshire which could be straight out of Sleeping Beauty
Credit: KF
A home that mixes Georgian appeal with modern touches, on the market for the second time in a quarter of a millennium
The church owned this property in the Somerset village of Northend for hundreds of years; now, after a huge refurbishment
Credit: knight frank
A picture-perfect rectory just outside Bath where sense and sensibility have held sway
This fine country rectory just outside Bath has had half a million pounds trimmed from its asking price – a realistic
-
'Never has there been a more important time to publicise great Victorian and Edwardian buildings in peril': The importance of saving our historic buildingsFor the 16th year, the Victorian Society is calling on the public to nominate Victorian or Edwardian buildings in England and Wales that are in need of saving.
-
A beautiful old farmhouse in 15 acres of breathtaking Scottish scenery, for sale at just £825,000A wonderful country home with almost 15 acres of land has come up for sale at a price which will make urban dwellers question their life choices.
-
A beautiful old farmhouse in 15 acres of breathtaking Scottish scenery, for sale at just £825,000
A wonderful country home with almost 15 acres of land has come up for sale at a price which will make urban dwellers question their life choices.
-
A country house that was the set for one of the best-loved sitcoms of the 1980s is for sale, with 40,000sq ft of space, 39 bedrooms and almost endless potentialLynford Hall, a vast neo-Jacobean house that's been everything from a country hotel to an agricultural college, has come to the market. Toby Keel tells its story.
-
A sprawling castle set amid ancient woodland has come to the market for the first time in 150 yearsGyrn Castle, set amidst woodland on the outskirts of an ancient village, is now seeking new owners. Penny Churchill reports.
-
A Tudor Revival home built by a Victorian adventurer, with beauty, grandeur and its own putting greenFulford Hall is an idyllic country home, yet is situated less than a dozen miles from Birmingham. Penny Churchill tells more.
-
Five glorious properties for sale from the 11th to the 21st centuryA tithe barn, a Grade I-listed Norman keep, and a Georgian masterpiece all graced the pages of Country Life this week
-
You can now rent King William IV’s former home in London’s Mayfair — for a princely sumThe London property — with royal lineage — is on the market with the estate agency Wetherell for £25,000 a week.
-
Dream of revolution inside the 18th-century villa once occupied by Napoleon's French troopsAn apartment inside historic Villa Gnecchi Ruscone is on the market and it comes with a grand ballroom rumoured to have been frequented by Napoleon.
-
May the force be with you if you move into this London apartment block that Obi-Wan Kenobi (and Cher) once lived inOliver’s Wharf was once the residence of megastar Cher and the actor Sir Alec Guinness — as well as Mark Knopfler of the Dire Straits.
