Yours for £ 10m, the golden crescent
Take the plunge into Bath … by buying 16 houses in a Georgian terrace
IT would be a dream for many to own just one of these Georgian townhouses. But anyone with a spare £10million has the opportunity to acquire the entire crescent.
Somerset Place, a honeycoloured sweep of 16 Grade I listed properties in Bath, has not been on the market long, but has already attracted hundreds of inquiries.
It is one of eight Georgian crescents in the city, including the better- known Royal Crescent, but the only one still in single ownership.
Since 1985, the buildings have been owned by Bath Spa University which uses them for art and design classes, offices, a canteen and accommodation for 140 students. The proceeds of the sale will fund a new campus in the city.
Designed by the local architect John Eveleigh in 1790, the homes come complete with iron balconies, coal cellars, wine stores, a half-moon of communal garden in front and long narrow gardens at the back.
But any prospective buyer should note that although the exterior has all the romance of a Jane Austen novel, the interior is strictly functional, with acres of grubby green lino and beige paint.
Savills estate agents, who are handling the sale, expect the properties to be snapped up by a developer and turned into homes. Last year, a single home in nearby Royal Crescent sold for £4million.
The university has reluctantly decided to sell because the crescent, with its listed status, is unsuitable for its present use.
Because of planning restrictions it is difficult to install computer systems and disabled access cannot be expanded and is expensive to maintain. A short stretch of back garden wall cost £30,000 to repair because of the need to use specialist labour and materials.
Tony Dewberry, the university’s deputy vice- chancellor, said: ‘It’s a really beautiful place and I hope somebody will buy it and care for it. But to be brutally honest, I’ll be glad to be shot of it.’
The building of the crescent was put on hold shortly after work began in the 1790s when the project ran out of money and it was not completed until 1820. To this day, the first house is number 5, because 1 to 4 were never built.
Bath’s Georgian terraces are regarded by architectural historians as among the world’s most beautiful urban housing.
But this was not always the case. Freshly- cut Bath stone is bright white and Jane Austen, who lived in the city from 1801 to 1805, complained that the glare from the new buildings gave her a perpetual headache. Somerset Place, on Lansdown Hill, north of the city centre, was severely bombdamaged during the Second World War but was restored.
Savills says it is the largest crescent in Europe still in single ownership.
Spokesman Richard Rees is expecting to receive offers in excess of the asking price before the deadline next Tuesday.
The only drawback for the buyer is that the university will be using the buildings until 2007.
Mr Rees said: ‘This really is a oneoff opportunity to buy an entire Georgian crescent and it provides an exciting opportunity to return the buildings to their original use as homes.’
j.mills@dailymail.co.uk