Architectural Notes

A Memory of Bath.

As a former resident of Bath I recall that this building was not particularly liked. In 1959 the hotel was demolished and a block of 33 flats at 1st, 2nd and 3rd floor level with shops at the ground floor was built. The quality of building work and the amenities of the building was exceptional and included electric underfloor heating beneath parquet floors in the main living room and an air extractor system to bathrooms and kitchens without external windows. The two side wings of the property housed lifts serving the three floors and also included very convenient rubbish chutes. There was also an entryphone system - a relatively new concept in Britain at that time. The rooms in the flats were well proportioned with 9' ceilings and large sash windows. Because of the underlying geology of the area it was necessary to construct a deep and strong platform several metres below street level over which were constructed vertically doubled basements for the overlying shops. The lower basement of one of the shops was immediately above the outflow from the Hot Spring on the opposite side of Stall Street and an interesting side effect of this was that during the long and severe winter of 1962/63 the building was the only one in the immediate area which did not have its water supply frozen. Other local residents had to draw water on a daily basis from a stand pipe adjacent to the building on the corner of Stall Street and Cheap Street. I rented a bed-sitting room flat in the centrefront at first floor level that winter with a view of Bath Abbey identical to that enjoyed by thousands of guests in the rooms over the Grand Pump Room Hotel's portico.


Added 06 April 2006

#217517

Comments & Feedback

I was a schoolboy in Bath during the mid-50s...at Cannings College (later Grosvenor High School, I
think) and my step-father with naval connections (Lieut. Cmdr RNVR) worked at the Empire Hotel,
which may well still have been under some sort of govt. control/acquisition then. I have memories
of meeting him and getting a lift home from the area immediately opposite that imposing building overlooking the river. I have the benefit of having spent happy days as a child in that fine city,
in particular train-spotting at Bath Spa and watching the county side play cricket on the recreation
ground when the likes of Maurice Tremlett, Colin McCool and PB Wight were playing.
M.C. Newberry
London W1

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