Laura Place, Bath
Encyclopedia
Laura Place in Bathwick
, Bath, Somerset
, England was built by Thomas Baldwin
and John Eveleigh
between 1788 and 1794.
Laura Place lies at the end of Pulteney Bridge
and consists of four blocks of houses around an irregular quadrangle with a fountain which was not part of the original plan and was added in the late 19th century. After completion of the main street in 1877 local residents petitioned and successfully raised significant funds to build a grand column (rather like Nelson's Column
in London
). However as construction of the column started, the residents realised that the addition would tower over the area (it would be 50% taller than the houses), and so they then petitioned for it to be cancelled. After some negotiations, the column was pulled down and the much smaller fountain added instead. It consists of a circular stone basin with four radial projections surmounted by an urn with gadrooned
bowl.The fountain is a regular target for vandalism, typically being filled with soap suds late at night. To avoid creating traffic congestion, pumping and refreshing the water has to be done out of office hours and costs around £2,000 each time, contributing to the £2.2 million (2007 figure) annual council repair and maintenance programme paid for by local council taxpayers.
Numbers 4, 5 and 6 are combined with Numbers 1 to 7 Great Pulteney Street
, and others with Henrietta Street
.
mentions Laura Place in Bath as the home of English cousins to Jean-Anne Christy de la Pallière
, a French navy officer fighting for France in the Napoleonic Wars
.
Bathwick
Bathwick is an electoral ward in the City of Bath, England, on the opposite bank of the River Avon to the historic city centre.Bathwick was part of the hundred of Bath Forum....
, 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...
, England was built by Thomas Baldwin
Thomas Baldwin (architect)
Thomas Baldwin was an English surveyor and architect in Bath.He did not originally hail from Bath but was first recorded in the city in 1774, where he was initially a clerk to plumber, glazier, and politician Thomas Warr Attwood. By 1775, he was appointed as the Bath City Architect after...
and John Eveleigh
John Eveleigh
John Eveleigh was an English surveyor and architect in Bath.He began his practice in Bath in the 1780s, but went bankrupt after the failure of the Bath City Bank and moved to Plymouth.-List of works:* Camden Crescent, Bath...
between 1788 and 1794.
Laura Place lies at the end of Pulteney Bridge
Pulteney Bridge
Pulteney Bridge is a bridge that crosses the River Avon, in Bath, England. It was completed in 1773 and is designated by English Heritage as a grade I listed building....
and consists of four blocks of houses around an irregular quadrangle with a fountain which was not part of the original plan and was added in the late 19th century. After completion of the main street in 1877 local residents petitioned and successfully raised significant funds to build a grand column (rather like Nelson's Column
Nelson's Column
Nelson's Column is a monument in Trafalgar Square in central London built to commemorate Admiral Horatio Nelson, who died at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The monument was constructed between 1840 and 1843 to a design by William Railton at a cost of £47,000. It is a column of the Corinthian...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
). However as construction of the column started, the residents realised that the addition would tower over the area (it would be 50% taller than the houses), and so they then petitioned for it to be cancelled. After some negotiations, the column was pulled down and the much smaller fountain added instead. It consists of a circular stone basin with four radial projections surmounted by an urn with gadrooned
Gadrooning
Gadrooning is any decorative motif consisting of convex curves in a series. In furniture and other interior accessories, the term is applied to, among other things an ornamental carved band of tapered, curving and alternating concave and convex sections, usually diverging obliquely either side of a...
bowl.The fountain is a regular target for vandalism, typically being filled with soap suds late at night. To avoid creating traffic congestion, pumping and refreshing the water has to be done out of office hours and costs around £2,000 each time, contributing to the £2.2 million (2007 figure) annual council repair and maintenance programme paid for by local council taxpayers.
Numbers 4, 5 and 6 are combined with Numbers 1 to 7 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...
, and others with Henrietta Street
Henrietta Street, Bath
Henrietta Street in the Bathwick area of Bath, Somerset, England was built around 1785 by Thomas Baldwin.Numbers 1 to 35 were built together in a terrace with a consistent style of 3 storey houses. They complement the surrounding Georgian buildings and layout of Laura Place, Great Pulteney Street...
.
In popular culture
In Post Captain, the second book of the Aubrey-Maturin series, author Patrick O'BrianPatrick O'Brian
Patrick O'Brian, CBE , born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series of novels set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars and centred on the friendship of English Naval Captain Jack Aubrey and the Irish–Catalan physician Stephen...
mentions Laura Place in Bath as the home of English cousins to Jean-Anne Christy de la Pallière
Jean-Anne Christy de la Pallière
Jean-Anne Christy de la Pallière was a French Navy officer.Born to a captain of the French East India Company, Christy-Pallière started sailing in 1773, as an apprentice on an East Indiaman...
, a French navy officer fighting for France in the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
.