Details
BRISTOL
901-1/9/7 BERKELEY CRESCENT
08-JAN-59 1-6
1 to 6 and attached railings
BERKELEY SQUARE
19
19 and attached railings
(Formerly listed as:
BERKELEY CRESCENT
1-6
Numbers 1 to 6 and attached railings)
(Formerly listed as:
BERKELEY CRESCENT
1-6
Numbers 1 to 6 including no 19 Berkele
y Square and attached railings)
GV II*
A cresent of seven houses (including no. 19), started in 1787 and completed in c. 1800 to designs by Thomas Paty and/or his son, and built as an ensemble with the adjacent Berkeley Square (qv).
MATERIAL: The houses are constructed in brick with tuck-pointing, limestone dressings, partywall stacks and a slate mansard roof.
PLAN: Each three storey house, with attic and basement, has a double-depth plan.
EXTERIOR: The Crescent is built in mid-Georgian style, has flat end returns with on the left hand return no. 19 Berkeley Square. The houses have right-hand semi-circular-arched doorways with bracketed pediments, fanlights and six panel doors. No. 1 has a doorway in the angled right return, with attached Doric columns and oval panels to the entablature. The six over six pane ground-floor sashes have cambered heads with five stepped voussoirs. The first floor has tall four over four pane sashes with scrolled wrought-iron basket balconies to nos. 3-6, and three over three pane second-floor sashes. No. 6 has a single ground-floor window with seven stepped voussoirs to an eight over eight pane sash. Each house has single dormers to the front and rear, and a semicircular-arched stair window to the rear. To the front each house has vaulted cellars. No. 19 Berkeley Square faces Berkeley Square with a five bay ashlar front, rusticated on the ground floor and with giant end pilasters and a central pedimented doorway and railings to the basement area. The rear of the houses have irregular elevations with some original sash windows remaining, others replaced using existing openings, or newly inserted.
INTERIOR: No. 3 contains some original late C18 features, including, an entrance hall with a semicircular arch with moulded archivolt and an open-well dogleg stair with stick balusters.The glass in the arched stair window is set in a recessed panelled frame (late C18), and is a late-C20 replacement of good quality decorative stained glass. No. 3 has a marble and further stone fireplaces on ground and first floor, with a stone one in the basement (the former kitchen and pantry), which is flanked by plain built-in cupboards. To the rear in the basement is a built-in stone sink. The interiors of other properties were not inspected although they are expected to retain a similar range of detailing.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: The houses have attached wrought-iron railings and gates to the front basement area, and railings to the central garden area. The Crescent has a good quality raised flagged pavement, with steps at each end, in front. There are communal wells to the rear.
HISTORY
The Crescent dates from 1787, and was completed in c. 1800 to designs by the Bristol architect Thomas Paty (c1713-1789), possibly by his son, William Paty (1758-1800), who had become his partner and assistant, and carried on the family business from 1789. The Patys were a well known Bristol family of masons, carvers and architects who were active throughout the C18, and responsible for many developments in Georgian Bristol. Berkeley Crescent was planned as an ensemble with Berkeley Square.
SOURCES
A Foyle, 'Pevsner Architectural Guides - Bristol' (2004), p 195.
H Colvin, 'A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840' (1995, 3rd edn), pp 742-743.
N Pevsner, 'The Buildings of Endland: North Somerset and Bristol' (1990 2nd edn), p 436.
A Gomme, M Jenner and B Little, ' Bristol, and Architectural History', (1979), p 214.
W Ison, 'The Georgian Buildings of Bristol' (1952), p 214.
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION
Nos. 1-6 Berkeley Crescent including no. 19 Berkeley Square and attached railings are designated for the following principal reasons:
* It is a good example of Georgian style town planning associated with Thomas and William Paty, an important architect and builders family responsible for many C18 developments in Bristol.
* It displays high quality design and architectural detailing, and for a terrace of town houses in a dense urban area, has remained remarkably complete.
* It was planned to form an ensemble with Berkeley Square (qv), with which it continues to form an important group of Georgian buildings and urban green space in the centre of Bristol.
Listing NGR: ST5794573153
